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DogsNaturally because change happens one dog at a time Volume 4 Issue 5 September-October 2013 Autoimmune Disease A holistic approach Vitamin Premixes The hidden ingredients that could be harming your dog Pet Food Packaging Hidden Dangers Hero or Villain Garlic Cancer Rabies Vaccinosis Supplements for p MANUFACTURER S COUPON EXPIRES 12 31 13 VOID IF COPIED NOT GOOD ON PRIOR PURCHASES ON ANY BRAVO PURCHASE OF 10 OR MORE INCLUDING SAVE 3.00 BRAVO BLEND OR BALANCE RAW DIET Shinier healthier skin and coat PRODUCT.YOUR CHOICE OF A CHUB OR BURGER Cleaner teeth and fresh breath ANY BRAVO BONUS BITES OR TRAINING TREAT Better weight control BRAVO BAG-O-BONES OR BRAVO CHEW Improved digestion NOTE NOT ALL STORES CARRY ALL PRODUCTS Reduction of allergy symptoms . LIMIT ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER NOT VALID IF COPIED. Harder smaller less smelly stools CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH OTHER OFFERS. NO CASH VALUE. RETAILER SUBMIT TO YOUR BRAVO DISTRIBUTOR FOR REIMBURSEMENT More energy and stamina DISTRIBUTOR RETURN TO BRAVO FOR CREDIT FOR YOUR COST Increased mobility in older animals For more information visit bravorawdiet.com editor s message As Dogs Naturally Magazine has grown we ve changed a few things in order to make the magazine a better product. Our website has undergone some changes the magazine has also had a bit of a face lift and we ve rolled out some fun contests and have a few new surprises lined up. We always try to make sure our subscribers and visitors never regret having an interaction with us. That s because as soon as you open up our website or magazine you become like family to us. We want Dogs Naturally to be not only a great magazine with great content but a place where you and your dog feel welcome and loved. So family is the best word I can conjure up when we think of our readers Seriously I m not blowing sunshine up your bum when I say this You are family. You and your dog are loved. You and your dog matter. So welcome to the Dogs Naturally family truly But before I welcome you in I do have a small favor to ask of you. Because you ve opened our pages and you re reading our content (and even the editor s message - I hope this means you re reading it on purpose and not just because you don t want to get out of your chair just yet and there s nothing else to read) that very action sends me a very clear message that you are supportive of what we do. For those of you who spend your hard earned dollars on this magazine that sends an even stronger message you like what we re doing enough to actually pay money for it. The fact that you are spending time and money with us is a powerful endorsement But that takes me back to the favor. If you like what we say and what we do I want you to think about how you spend your dollars and who you spend your time with. Geez I sound like my mother but bear with me a moment. The one thing we hear a lot of from our fans is I wish I could stop vaccinating for ______ but my kennel or groomer requires it. Or I wish I could feed a better food but I can t afford it. Or finally I don t like what my vet is doing but I can t find a better vet in my area. I feel your pain - I really do But I want you to consider one thing before you hand another dollar over to people and businesses who you feel aren t doing right by your dog. I want you to understand that supporting these businesses with your time and hard earned cash is a very powerful form of endorsement. You re clearly saying I m willing to pay for unnecessary vaccination dog food made in China or vets who don t support my own values. That sounds really preachy so I apologize. But I can t think of a better way to say it I m going to let you in on a little secret and that might help to soften the blow. You see Dogs Naturally isn t just a bunch of dead trees. Dogs Naturally is a movement toward ending unnecessary vaccination crappy foods and harmful veterinary practices. Make no mistake we re going to put an end to outdated and harmful veterinary practices one dog at a time. Because you are family we d like the next dog to be yours. Now if you don t want to change that s cool we d never ask you to do anything you re not comfortable with. But for those of you who really want to change I wonder what s stopping you Is it fear Or do you feel that it s just too hard If you want to change but don t know how then your family needs to be there for you. We need to do a better job of giving you the confidence to take control of your dog s health and be a more active partner in his health care decisions. That s easy to say but it all goes to hell in a hand basket when you re faced with a sick dog or a domineering vet. We ve all been there trust me I know the feeling of being completely alone a single fish seemingly swimming against the stream. But you don t have to feel alone You matter to us your dog matters to us and we want to feel like you are a part of something. You are never alone So if you feel pressured into making a decision you feel in your gut isn t right talk it over with your DNM family Drop by our Facebook page and you ll find there are thousands of pet owners just like you who will help you get over the humps and give you the confidence to say no We ve also dusted off Ask The Vet and through our media partnership with the Academy of Veterinary Homeopaths we ll have vets ready to answer your questions and help you feel more comfortable as you make those healthy changes. Finally and here s the cool part we re going to have a little gift for you. Something to make you feel like you re a part of something that also matters a community and a family that will always be there to support you and your dog. So watch for our little gift to you our dear family member. Remember you and your dog are loved and you matter. And I guarantee our movement will march on and protect one dog at a time. Will your dog be next Dana 4 September - October 2013 DogsNaturally Publisher Intuition Publishing Editor in Chief Dana Scott Advertising Director & Editor Julia Henriques Subscription & Sales Manager Tricia Barrett-Butler Sales and Marketing Homer Davis DNM Store Karen Scott Illustration Linda Boileau Judsey The information offered in Dogs Naturally is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace veterinary advice. Advertising For information on ad rates deadlines and requirements email sales dogsnaturallymagazine.com. Dogs Naturally reserves the right to reject any advertisement submitted. Submissions Dogs Naturally welcomes submissions of articles artwork or photography. Submission constitutes permission for Dogs Naturally at its sole discretion to use the submitted materials in whole or in part without compensation to the submitter. Detailed information on the format and requirements for submission is available via email. Please email submissions and requests to dana dogsnaturallymagazine.com SUBSCRIPTION PROBLEMS If you are missing an issue have a change of mailing address or have a subscription-related problem please contact customer service at subscriptions dogsnaturallymagazine.com Permissions This entire publication is copyrighted. No contents of Dogs Naturally may be reproduced or reprinted in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Intuition Publishing. Subscriptions Bulk or wholesale subscriptions are available at reduced rates. Subscription prices US 24.95 Canada 29.95 International 45.95 Digital 14.95. All subscription prices in US dollars. Subscriptions bulk orders and customer service inquiries should call 877-665-1290 email at info dogsnaturallymagazine.com or visit our website at www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com Dogs Naturally is published six times per year. INTUITION PUBLISHING PO Box 694 Beeton ON Canada L0G 1A0 E-mail info dogsnaturallymagazine.com Web site www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com contributors DR AMY NESSELRODT is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. She is licensed to practice veterinary medicine in Pennsylvania where she resides with her husband two children and five dogs. Visit Amy at DrAmyRawDogFoodResearch.com DR CHARLES LOOPS has a special interest in treating cancer and the extended reach of the telephone consultation has allowed his thousands of canine and feline patients to benefit from homeopathic prescribing. To learn more information on homeopathic cancer treatment and supplements visit www.charlesloopsdvm.com DR JODIE GRUENSTERN has been practicing veterinary medicine in Muskego Wisconsin since 1987. She is a certified veterinary acupuncturist and food therapist by the Chi Institute. Dr Jodie is the owner of the Animal Doctor Holistic Veterinary Complex an integrated full service small animal practice. For more info healthy products or her educational DVD visit AnimalDoctorHolistic.com DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 5 DogsNaturally ON THE COVER Volume 4 Issue 5 24 18 CANINE AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE Your dog s health relies on his immune system. What you need to know to protect your dog from autoimmune disease. By Lori Rose RHom Lic BSH Homeopathic Medicine Cancer is a heart wrenching disease. Here are some supplements to consider when supporting your ailing best friend. By Charles E Loops DVM Is processed food real food Discover how synthetic vitamins aren t the real deal when it comes to nutrition. By Jodie Gruenstern DVM CVA 38 32 GARLIC FRIEND OR FOE Is garlic a great boost to your dog s health and immune system or should you heed the dire warnings and avoid it By Deva Khalsa DVM The ingredients in the dog food container can be just as important as the ingredients in the food inside. By Marcie DeWolf Rabies vaccine reactions aren t always acute. Learn how to recognize the signs of chronic rabies vaccinosis or miasm. By Michael Dym VMD 24 CANINE CANCER SUPPLEMENTS 34 PET FOOD PACKAGING 28 VITAMIN PREMIXES 38 RABIES MIASM COLUMNS 4 EDITOR S MESSAGE 5 CONTRIBUTORS 8 FEEDBACK 41 10 MINUTE TRAINER 53 GIVEAWAYS 57 LOCAL STORES 62 I NEED THAT 64 CLASSIFIED SECTION 69 DOG PEOPLE COVER DOG Bodhi is a three year old Border Collie. He has a championship and several titles in flyball and is also in training for Obedience. Bodhi lives in Georgia with Karen Smalley. Dogs Naturally is published six times per year by Intuition Publishing. Digital subscription rates are 14.95 per year. Print subscription rates are 24.95 for US residents and 29.95 for Canadian residents. Bulk subscriptions are available at reduced rates. To subscribe call (877) 665-1290 or visit www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com Postmaster Send address changes to Dogs Naturally Magazine PO Box 694 Beeton Ontario L0G 1A0 6 September - October 2013 FEATURES 10 CARNIVORE OR OMIVORE SYNTHETIC-FREE All the nutrition in Carna4 comes from 100% table-grade whole foods that are mashed mixed and lightly baked into crunchy nuggets with nothing added. No vitamin premix Organic sprouted seeds provide e ective high levels of live probiotics enzymes and antioxidants which survive our gentle processing because they come from nature s own super-food not test tubes. What s the difference and why it matters to your dog s health. By Chris Bessent DVM You can clean your dog s mouth with diet and homeopathy. By Maria Ringo DHMHS BGS 14 WANT PEARLY WHITES 21 FIVE ESSENTIAL OILS FOR YOUR DOG The must-have oils you should know about 40 22 ESSENTIAL OILS FOR DOGS This handy introduction to essential oils will get you off to a safe and effective start. By Nayana Morag The energy of life and its impact on disease from a homeopathic perspective. By Ronna Kabler DVM 42 THE VITAL FORCE 44 GOOD EATS 46 RABIES VACCINATION AND DISEASE AGGRAVATION A vet s personal journey and discovery of the potential harm from vaccination. By Amy Nesselrodt DVM NEW Grain-Free Duck Formula for Dogs And check it out We ve Lowered our Prices HAND CRAFTED PET PRODUCTS 14 46 50 COULD DO BETTER Why it s time for vets to step into the light when it comes to vaccination. By Catherine O Driscoll A look at how the big picture is important when treating chronic disease. By Will Falconer DVM 54 WE WANT SIDE EFFECTS 59 COPROPHAGIA Visit Us Today at www.carna4.com The common and often disgusting habit called coprophagia (poop eating). By Lucy Postins 50 DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 7 feedback Letters I just wanted to say thank you for choosing our French Water Dog Barbet Brogan for the cover of your magazine. He has been busy signing autographs. Brogan and Judy (See photo left) I always read DNM cover to cover and learn so much from all of the articles. But the article that really caught my eye was the one about Audrey s case of pyometra because I am in the throes of trying to decide if I should spay my healthy adult Border Terrier Bean. It doesn t make sense to me that surgically removing organs based on fear of a possible health problem down the road - breast cancer or pyometra for instance - is a good idea. So I am weighing the pros and cons of spaying with the cons winning out. But then that fear creeps back in ... what if ... We all have to consider the risks vs benefits when it comes to our dogs health and often times there is no clear answer other than to make the best decision we can based on the knowledge we have at the time. Thanks for such an informative article Tunia Hyland It s great to have a respected magazine to refer to when discussing subjects such as feeding raw or over-vaccinating to my grooming clients. One thing I would love to see in print is an article listing the vaccine protocols of all major veterinary associations such as AAHA AMVA etc. Most if not all have stretched out their recommended frequency in light of new research though not as much as research proves is required (I ve read in order to appease vets) and still vets are not following it. All comes down to the bottom line. Really need to have this all in a clear concise article so I can show it to my clients. Keep up the good work Lori Cote The old story goes a bulldog pays a vet s college bills. This saying is no longer true thanks to you I am the proud owner of four bullies Normin Gina Frankie and Lenny. I love your magazine it s the only thing I read from front to back. I now work at Especially For Pets to help pay for their raw food diet and tell everyone about your magazine. A few of the customers are already subscribers. Keep up the good work Time to feed the kids. Nancy from Natick Mass We love our friends Check out our website Facebook and Twitter pages to stay up to date on the latest stories and news as well as events contests and exclusive giveaways. facebook.com dogsnaturallymagazine twitter.com dogsnaturally SEND US YOUR LETTERS We would love to hear from you Your comments and letters could be published in the next issue of Dogs Naturally. Send your emails to letters dogsnaturallymagazine.com or mail your letters to Dogs Naturally Magazine PO Box 694 Beeton ON L0G 1A0 8 September - October 2013 Facebook Jackie Kennemer Hi I ve recently noticed a lot of advertising in your magazine and a buzz in the raw feeding community about Goat Milk. I d like to hear Dogs Naturally s take on the subject. Maybe an article Thanks Judith Broug Fascinating and well written article by Doug Knueven on the Starch Study published by Nature this year just wished it was longer but a very good read Sandy Dougherty The July Allergy Issue of DNM can t get here soon enough for us Look at my poor doggy. Another round of steroids and antibiotics We need a solution (See photo right) Wendy Young Ya just lost me with the article I received via email... that its OK not to spay or neuter. As someone who has volunteered in shelters the last 24 years I advocate for altering. Kelly Stein Someone just handed me this magazine while I was at a park outing. I was like where has this been all these years I have been protesting the meds shots that I feel are not needed and more harmful than good and really have been alone on this. But I have stuck to my guns and have a healthy happy 13 year old Boxer. But I would have loved all this info from the beginning. This magazine just rocked for me. Fabulous. I want more ... how do I do this Rebecca Myers I just got the third degree about not vaccinating my dog and feeding raw. She told me that she would hold me while my dog was dying Why am I getting yelled at for not giving poison and feeding a raw diet I m just trying to do what is best for my dog Do any of you get this reaction from conventional medicine people SNIFF OUT A GREAT DEAL Purchase the entire 2012 Digital Archives for just Bundle it with the 2011 Digital Archives for just OR 12.95 19.95 Stay informed with the world s leading source for natural canine care Easily viewed on your iPhone Smartphone or iPad www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com subscribe DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 9 Is your loving kind fluffy dog friend a carnivore or an omnivore By Chris Bessent DVM 10 September - October 2013 T here has long been debate as to whether the dog is a carnivore or an omnivore. The National Research Council of the National Academies and some larger dog food companies consider dogs as omnivores. However most holistic veterinarians believe dogs are carnivores. little to no grinding - the meat is mechanically broken down by only two or three chomps of the molars before the food is swallowed. Dogs and cats possess these long canine teeth and tight digitation of the molars. To better understand the difference the teeth of the omnivorous human more closely reflect the herbivore teeth with short canines and large strong molar arcades that allow for the grinding of fruits and vegetables. By definition an animal that indiscriminately eats all kinds of foods of both animal and plant origin is an omnivore. Humans are considered omnivores. A carnivore is an animal that consumes only flesh. Cats for example are more readily agreed upon by most to be carnivores. Then there are the herbivores animals that feed on plants such as horses and cattle. All mammals have evolved over time to maximize their survival and have adapted physically to their environment in order to optimize their health and survival. So before deciding whether the dog is an omnivore or a carnivore it s important to first look at the unique physical features that their evolution has created. Length of the GI tract As we proceed down the path of food digestion the differences between the species are even more apparent. Herbivores have the longest GI tracts at about 100 feet in length. Their GI tract includes areas for the fermentation of cellulose which is difficult to break down. Even after the mechanical breakdown of grasses by the grinding teeth and salivary amylase and the further breakdown by the stomach acid and its digestive enzymes the cellulose may still need to be fermented in the rumen or the cecum. Omnivores such as humans have medium length GI tracts of about 20 to 40 feet. The appendix is actually the remnant of a fermentation system in the large intestine. Cats have the shortest GI tracts of all the species at 12 to 15 inches. This is because carnivores typically eat easily digestible food such as meats. The canine GI tract is also quite short at about two feet. This is drastically shorter than the herbivore but also much shorter than the omnivore. Neither the cat nor the dog has an area The Gastrointestinal System Since we re talking dietary evolution the gastrointestinal system is the most obvious adaptation to start with. The digestion of a plant based diet is by nature very different then the digestion of a meat based diet. Plants contain quite a bit of cellulose and starches. In order to break these materials down the body requires unique digestive enzymes as well as the proper dentition to grind and break down these large components. Amylase and cellulase are the digestive enzymes a body needs to convert plant based starches and cellulose into sugars which can then be absorbed by the small intestine or in the case of cellulose further fermented to develop usable food macronutrients. Herbivores and omnivores secrete amylase in their saliva to begin the breakdown of starches into glucose as soon as the plant enters the mouth. Because carnivores eat very little plant food they haven t adapted to produce salivary amylase. Cats and dogs don t produce salivary amylase. Dentition adaptation The size shape and dentition (the way the teeth fit together) of an animal s mouth have also adapted to fit their diet. Herbivores such as horses and cattle have long large wide molars with flat surfaces to allow for proper grinding of their high fiber plant source diets. This grinding breaks down plant material into smaller more usable matter. The incisors of herbivores are designed to pick the plant material such as grass. The long tongue then pushes the grass to the inside back of the mouth for grinding by the very strong and efficient molars. The final mechanically ground food is then swallowed for further digestion. The dentition of a carnivore is very different however. The carnivore teeth are designed to rip and tear meat from the bone and then gulp it down for further digestion in the stomach. The canine teeth are long pointed and sharp to allow deep penetration into the prey. The teeth also have a tight inter-digitation to lock in place to allow the carnivore to rip the flesh away from the prey. There is DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 11 Carnivores Lack salivary amylase Shape structure and alignment of teeth and mouth adapted for meat digestion Short gastrointestinal tract Minimal or no ability to convert ALA to EPA or DHA of the GI tract where the fermentation of cellulose can take place. A carnivore wouldn t need it. to EPA and DHA through a series of enzymatic reactions. Cats however completely lack the enzymes necessary for this conversion and dogs can only convert approximately 5 to 15 percent of the ALA sources. Omnivore or carnivore Although they differ somewhat from cats dogs should be considered carnivores based on their dentition as well as the length of their canine teeth. A dog s teeth reflect the mechanics of the ripping and tearing of food. They also possess a shortened gastrointestinal tract versus the longer GI tract of an omnivore or herbivore. In addition dogs don t have amylase an enzyme that breaks down sugars in their saliva like an omnivore and herbivore would have. The relative inability to convert plant based sources of Omega-3 fatty acids into EPA and DHA is also a strong indication of carnivore status. Based on their digestive tract adaptations I believe that dogs are scavenger carnivores while cats are true carnivores. A scavenger is an animal who will sort through discarded material or eat dead carcasses to take advantage of what it finds. Although dogs would prefer meat they can survive on whatever is available. Despite this omnivorous humans have been feeding dogs omnivorous dietss for years filled with plant based protein sources such as corn and rice. Can a dog live on this diet The answer is yes. But the real question is can they thrive throughout their entire life on an ominivorous diet Chris Bessent DVM practices holistic veterinary medicine utilizing Chinese herbs acupuncture food therapy and chiropractic on all animals. After more than a decade of using Chinese herbal combinations in her practice Dr Bessent channeled her wealth of knowledge and experience into founding Herbsmith Inc. Omega-3 s All animals need Omega-3 fatty acids to support health. An Omega-3 fatty acid is considered an essential fatty acid meaning the animal s body doesn t produce it so it needs to be consumed. There are both vegetable and fish based sources of Omega-3. Vegetable based sources of Omega-3 are in the form of alpha-linolenic acid known as ALA. ALA is found in green leafy vegetables as well as flax hemp chia and other plant oils. The ALA needs to be converted to eicosapentaenoic acid EPA and docosahexenoic acid or DHA. EPA and DHA are the active forms of Omega-3 fatty acids. Herbivores and omnivores can convert plant based ALA sources 12 September - October 2013 NEED-SENTIALS Sh-Emp EFA Oil Blend Power 3 EA s of Sunday S U N D A E C Phyt n -SENTIALS H A N C 1 litre E It s ALL Here Available at Dogs Naturally Online Shop See Marketplace for other suppliers of these fine products Want Pearly Whites clean your dog s mouth with diet and homeopathy By Maria Ringo DHMHS BGS 14 September - October 2013 When I was a child I was afraid of dogs. I was raised in a tough neighborhood and the only canines I got to know were large breeds with big barks and huge teeth (or so they seemed ) owned by our neighbors for protection. It wasn t until I met a family of awesome bullmastiffs when I was in my 20 s that my understanding and affection for dogs began and my fear disappeared with my ignorance. I still remember those teeth however. I got many a close look at them when they were bared at naughty children trespassing on someone s property. I wondered then if dogs got cavities and had to visit the doggy dentist Most of those scary incisors I feared were very white and straight in my memory of them. Back then (50 years ago) dogs rarely got tooth or gum disease except due to the odd traumatic injury or accident and I m positive none of the dogs I knew had ever met a dental hygienist of any sort. Why then these days are we persuaded to take the dog to the vet to get his teeth cleaned every few months Is that really necessary and does any dog enjoy our tooth brushing No they don t Which is why they must be sedated under general anesthetic to get their teeth cleaned. Surely there is a better way consistent with natural rearing principles to care for our their oral health PERIODONTAL CONDITIONS Plaque a filmy slime made of bacteria and saliva it covers the teeth and can be easily brushed away. Plaque is alive it thrives on sugar and the bacteria are constantly producing acid which if not removed wears down tooth enamel to create dental cavities (also known as caries). If plaque remains long at the gum line it can turn solid and becomes... Tartar (also called calculus) a hard yellow crust formed from mineral salts and plaque that tends to gather at the gum line irritating gum (gingival) tissue. It cannot be brushed off but will chip off if you scrape it with your thumbnail. Left on the teeth it leads to.... Gingivitis redness and swelling of the gums. It hurts and it weakens the gums so teeth can become loose and thus more vulnerable to damage and decay in between them. If neglected gingivitis turns into the more serious condition.... Periodontitis progressive infection and inflammation that will destroy the periodontal ligaments that hold teeth in place in the gums. Ultimately it causes bone loss and can lead to chronic systemic infection throughout the body. A Primer on Mouth Health A dog s tooth is composed of a section above the gum line called the crown and a section below the gum line called the root. Enamel is the hardest mineralized tissue found in the body and it covers the crown. Cementum which is attached to the periodontal ligament holding the tooth in the jaw covers the root. Dentin softer than enamel makes up the bulk of the tooth. Inside the dentin at the core of the tooth is the pulp composed of live tissue containing nerves blood vessels and lymphatics. Humans and dogs have different numbers and shapes of teeth but otherwise physiologically they are the same. When it happens tooth and gum decay affect modern dogs the same way they affect humans and for the same reasons which will be discussed below. Healthy teeth are white or slightly yellow and healthy gums are smooth and light pink (except those in breeds with naturally pigmented gums such as Chows and Sharpeis). There should not be any redness or swelling and your dog shouldn t wince in pain when you open her mouth for a look (and a sniff). The breath shouldn t be horrible bad breath is a sign of bacteria necrotizing (destroying) the gum tissue. Standard veterinary and industry advice for keeping your dog s teeth and gums healthy is to feed crunchy food or treats - to scrape off the plaque - clean the teeth at the vet s several times a year brush regularly with special toothpaste at home if you can manage it and to never feed table scraps. There are dental chew toys for sale as well to keep your pet entertained and her breath smelling fresh. Infections are treated with antibiotics then cortisone if inflammation persists. When that fails to relieve your pet s discomfort her teeth may be removed. Problem solved Modern Diet It s Worse than Bad Breath Plaque will always form on teeth after meals. The question is will it be dissolved by the mouth s normal salivary process or will it overwhelm the body s natural response and stick around (literally) to cause trouble DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 15 Before the advent of commercial pet foods in the early 20th century domesticated dogs ate a primarily meat based diet of table scraps farm scraps and or whatever small animal they could catch while foraging on the property especially if food was scarce for owners. There are no reliable statistics available (to my knowledge) indicating the health of domesticated dogs in those days but anecdotally they lived longer and relatively healthier lives. Cancer dysplasia diabetes and other modern illnesses were unheard of. Today most dogs are fed a lifelong diet of artificial grain based processed food containing synthetic vitamins and minerals with chemical preservatives flavors and other additives. The connection between a carbohydrate heavy processed food diet and a host of chronic illnesses - in both dogs and humans - is no longer disputable and may arguably be the leading cause of poor oral health. A 1991 study showed that 85% of cats and dogs over three years of age have some sort of dental or gum disease and it is now considered normal for dogs to suffer from bad breath. Teeth covered in plaque are teeming with bacteria which get into the gums and can provoke a systemic inflammatory response in the animal. This means that periodontal disease can not only cause bad breath rotten teeth and sore gums but can also damage major organs including the liver lungs and kidneys the skin and the joints and even the heart. The dog s whole immune system is compromised and weakened by underlying infections resulting from dental foci. External signs include poor skin and coat condition smelly stools and lethargy. All from plaque buildup on the teeth No amount of costly dental cleanings toothpaste crunchy biscuits or chew toys alleviates the cause of the problem plaque must be prevented from building up in the first place. Real Food and Fat Soluble Vitamins To prevent the cascade of periodontal disease more and more researchers on the subject recommend a diet that includes fresh raw foods a diet that is much closer to the days of wilder pre-commercial diets. When she was writing her groundbreaking books on natural rearing in the 1940 s Juliette de Bairicli-Levy recommended that dog owners bury fresh goat heads in shallow soil. Then after a few weeks of letting them get good and ripe allow the dogs to sniff them out dig them up and eat them. Today that would likely upset your neighbors so researching and preparing homemade diets with raw meats from your local butcher or carefully selecting a synthetic-free raw or minimally processed commercial food made with only actual food ingredients is a more popular idea. According to research done by the Weston A Price foundation there are three important food factors for creating and preserving perfectly strong teeth and healthy gums 1. 2. 3. Raw grass fed dairy Organs of sea animals including fish heads eggs oysters clams mussels crab and lobster with their innards Organs of land animals including liver pancreas bone marrow tongue heart kidneys eyes and stomach lining Price noted that aboriginal people who came into Western society with perfect teeth soon lost them from eating a western diet lacking in the three food factors above. This may logically be applied to dogs as well as we have watched for 100 years the increasingly obvious correlation between the advent of modern processed pet food diets and increased chronic disease including tooth and gum decay in modern domesticated animals. Price also documented that the absence of the fat soluble vitamins A E D and K the ones found in abundance in the three food factors above made humans more susceptible to rotting teeth and gum disease. These vitamins are stored in the liver and fatty tissue and we now know that vitamins A and D cooperate together to regulate the production of certain vitamin K dependent proteins. Once vitamin K activates these proteins vitamins A and D help mineralize bones and teeth and help prevent infection and protect against cell death. Price asserted that to have healthy teeth one doesn t need to eat a lot from each of the three groups above just regularly from at least two of them. This certainly fits with Juliette s advice to feed raw animal organs for a vibrantly healthy pet. Furthermore since plaque survives in an acidic environment the recommendations of both Price and Juliette make sense because feeding raw food shifts the body terrain toward a more alkaline state making the mouth a less hospitable host for acid loving bacteria. Homeopathy for Prevention and Treatment In addition to diet there is more we can do to prevent tooth and gum decay using homeopathic medicines called tissue salts (also known as cell salts). Calc phos 6x and Calc fluor 6x are known to 16 September - October 2013 help re-mineralize calcium dependent tissue in the body. Dissolve one tablet of each in a small bowl of water and feed every day for about 30 days to strengthen teeth and bones and help prevent tooth decay. Homeopathic medicine can also be used to alleviate a host of specific oral illnesses and injuries safely and effectively. In general remedies should be used in 6c potency except Arnica and Hypericum when these are used in an emergency. If a condition is serious or chronic or scary to you in any way it warrants a consult with your homeopath to get advice. Most homeopaths will gladly work with you on your pet s health concerns. Hepar sulphuricum for swollen painful often chronic infections with pus formation. Hepar sulph can cause the abscess to burst it really does the job so watch carefully when using this remedy. Silica once the pus is discharging use Silica to hasten drainage especially if the dog has swollen glands. Pulsatilla look for offensive breath in dry mouth without thirst the dog wants to curl up in a warm place and the pain seems to change character - one minute the dog is whining when she eats at the next meal she seems fine but is in pain while out for a walk... Post-Dental Surgery (see Trauma above regarding Arnica and Hypericum) Staphysagria helps heal surgical incisions quickly Magnesium phos for stiff jaws and cramped muscles after long dental sessions Ledum for swelling and soreness at injection sites Phosphorous relieves the grogginess and nausea experienced after anesthesia Symphytum helps heal damage to the periosteum (the thin layer of tissue covering bone) after infections. Also used for after effects of extensive dental cleaning as it stimulates repair of epithelium. Ruta to help heal tooth extractions more quickly. Trauma If you choose to have only a few remedies on hand Arnica and Hypericum are the two must-haves Arnica is akin to an anti-inflammatory and will alleviate pain and swelling. Arnica can be used as soon as possible after an injury surgery or dental cleaning to help the dog get back on his feet physically and mentally. Hypericum calms nerve pain the kind that shoots out and prevents the dog from eating (like a toothache from a cracked tooth). It also speeds the healing of broken skin and scars by promoting the production of healthy new epithelial cells. Often used together these two should be kept on hand in cases of painful trauma of any kind. Give them five minutes apart as soon after the accident or surgery as possible. Keep a tube of each in 200c potency in the glove compartment of your car in case you might suddenly need them. Calendula tincture if you can get the dog to cooperate applying watered down calendula tincture to scratched burned or injured gum or tongue tissue will help build healthy new epithelial cells to heal it faster. A Word on Using Homeopathic Medicine Learn to take a good homeopathic case for best results. Toronto based dentist Dr Gary Fortinsky uses homeopathy for his patients daily. I did some of my homeopathy training alongside (the late) Dr Pat Whittaker a veterinarian who became so fascinated with cats and dogs response to homeopathy that she switched from farm livestock to small animal practice. She saw first hand that oral health was declining in pets and she confirmed to me the myth that dogs don t get tooth decay was just not true anymore. He reminds us that animals just as humans respond very well to a good homeopathic case-taking for dentistry concerns. So many homeopathic dental books are all wrong. They will all say for tooth pain use Hypericum but that s just not true. Most individuals have a case underneath the pain and you need to take it. You cannot operate well on a cookbook basis he says. Staphysagria will often come up for tooth decay but this is not necessarily the right remedy for every dog with a rotten tooth. With the exception of cases of clear trauma where Arnica is obvious for example the remedy is going to work best when selected for an animal whose symptom picture indicates that remedy in the entirety not just in one symptom. Maintaining your dog s oral health is a holistic challenge easily met with a natural diet and homeopathic medicine. Give your dog those lovely scary big white teeth she was meant to have Maria Ringo is a homeopathic practitioner teacher and co-founder of Carna4 Dog Food a small ethical company producing synthetic-free whole foods for pets. In 1986 she co-founded Sojourner Farms one of the first commercially available raw foods diets for dogs. She lives in Toronto Ontario with her family and may be reached at maria nthm.ca Bad Breath Stinky breath has a systemic cause either in the mouth or the gut so there is no acute remedy to cure it. Improving the oral health of your dog with diet alongside cleaning up infections with homeopathic remedies should take care of this malady. You may wish to try Carbo vegetalis if the dog is also gassy and you suspect the problem may be the result of an unfortunate event such as a recent party with the garbage can. Gingivitis Mercurius solubilis can be used when the dog s tongue is coated and she is over salivating but still thirsty for drinking water. She has terrible breath and her face may look swollen. Phosphorous is for persistently swollen gums that bleed bright red blood easily Abscess Pyrogenium if the dog is feverish and you see pus starting to build up under the gum tissue but not being released Belladonna the key here is redness and heat around the head. Use before the abscess fully forms especially if the dog s eyes are bloodshot and or she is acting aggressively. DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 17 Protecting your dog from Canine Autoimmune Disease By Lori Rose RHom Lic BSH Homeopathic Medicine O ver the past 50 years and 17 generations of dogs we are seeing an alarming and growing increase in chronic ill health particularly canine autoimmune diseases. Most of these diseases involve the breakdown in our pets immune systems and include symptoms such as chronic skin and ear allergies digestive upset thyroid adrenal or pancreatic disorders seizures gum and tooth problems degenerative arthritis kidney or liver failure and cancer across all ages and breeds. We re also seeing a record number of behavioral and emotional disorders including unexplained fear and aggression. 18 September - October 2013 What Is Canine Autoimmune Disease Canine autoimmune disease occurs when one or more components of the dog s immune system becomes overactive and the ability of the immune system to distinguish between self and foreign is lost. That is the system cannot tell whether some proteins are part of the dog s body tissue or whether they are from outside sources. As a result mistakes occur - the immune system produces antibodies that attack and destroy the body s own cells and organs instead of producing antibodies to defend the body against foreign proteins such as bacteria and viruses. The immune system loses the ability to distinguish between normal cells and foreign cells. So instead of creating antibodies to fight infections the immune system produces auto-antibodies that destroy its own normal cells. Autoimmune disease may be restricted to a single organ a particular region or the whole animal. Some common examples of autoimmune disease in dogs resulting from an overactive immune system include IBD is a serious condition which produces a thickening of the bowel lining with the inability to absorb food or water. This in turn prevents the normal movement of food through the digestive tract. When IBD involves the stomach or upper small intestine chronic vomiting normally results. When it occurs in the lower small intestine a watery diarrhea with weight loss is often seen. Mucus or blood in the stool are an indication of ulceration of the large intestine or colon. In some cases the entire intestinal tract from the stomach to the colon is involved. This is a painful and distressing condition for the dog causing weight loss weakness and anemia from the chronic blood loss associated with the disease. Canine IBD is one of the most common causes of gastrointestinal problems in dogs. Causes of Canine Autoimmune Diseases Many homeopathic practitioners (myself included) believe the following are the main causes of autoimmune diseases in dogs - Canine inflammatory bowel disease - Canine Addison s disease - Canine autoimmune hemolytic anemia - Canine systemic lupus - Canine rheumatoid arthritis - Canine hypothyroidism - Canine pemphigus vulgaris (an autoimmune disease of the skin) - The overuse of vaccines - The overuse of antibiotics - The overuse of steroid drugs - Environmental pollutants - Food preservatives such as ethoxyquin - Chemicals found in pesticides - Chemical flea and tick treatments The first thing dog owners must realize is that the overuse of the above toxins are all detrimental to your dog s health and are potentially very harmful What dog owners need to understand is that they are not protecting their animals from disease by annual vaccinations but are in fact destroying the health and immune systems of their dog. Detecting Autoimmune Diseases Canine Autoimmune diseases have multiple symptoms depending on the organs and or body systems that are targeted. Diagnosis can be difficult since most of the symptoms tend to mimic other conditions. Some of the common symptoms include Vaccination Paradox Homeopathic practitioners and other holistic practitioners have maintained for some time that vaccinations do more harm than they provide benefits. Vaccinations represent a major assault on the body s immune system causing vaccine induced chronic diseases which can range from life threatening conditions such as autoimmune crises to conditions destroying the quality of life of an animal such as chronic skin allergies. Vaccines contain mutated bacteria viruses immune irritants foreign proteins and chemical preservatives. Injecting these toxins introduces them directly into the blood and lymph bypassing the body s natural first line defenses where viruses would normally first be detected by the body the skin mucus and saliva. Nowhere in nature does such an exposure occur. How can we expect a normal immune reaction to such a supernormal assault Research has shown that vaccines are often immunosuppressive for days to weeks after administration. Conventional medicine has no idea of the long term effects of vaccination and our companion animals suffer many more vaccines in a very short period of time than we humans do. For decades homeopathic practitioners have called vaccine induced problems vaccinosis. From my experience and that of other practitioners I say without reservation that many chronic diseases - Diarrhea (with or without blood) - Weakness and intolerance to exercise - Lethargy and depression - Skin lesions and ulceration (with or without itch) - Nasal oral and anal lesions - Stiff joints and lameness - Seizures - Loss of appetite weight loss or gain - Body odor Inflammatory Bowel Disease One of the most common canine autoimmune diseases seen in holistic veterinary practice today is inflammatory bowel disease. IBD is an autoimmune disease in which the dog s immune system literally invades and attacks its own digestive organs. Specifically certain inflammatory cells (e.g. lymphocytes and plasmacytes) and various chemicals accumulate infiltrate and damage the stomach small intestine and or large intestine. DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 19 are caused after vaccination. In that light it s not surprising that autoimmune disease is occurring at an alarming rate in our canine friends. How Homeopathy Can Help Conventional medicine fails to recognize vaccinosis due largely to the lucrative nature of regular vaccination for many vets and pharmaceutical companies. Then when vaccinosis occurs conventional medicine also fails to address the underlying cause of the disease. Conventional treatment is aimed merely at suppressing the disease symptoms with antibiotics cortisone and other related drugs so while the symptoms may appear better the disease itself progresses and goes deeper. Conversely homeopathy offers a viable alternative and can truly cure pets and make their bodies healthier. Homeopathy is renowned for its success in treating the individual symptoms of each case helping the body remove the toxic effects of vaccines and restoring balance and health. When dealing with these more deeply seated autoimmune diseases however it s wise to consult with a good homeopathic veterinarian instead of trying remedies on your own. Homeopathic nosodes can even be prescribed as a natural and successful alternative to vaccines. Suppression occurs when a symptom goes away perhaps permanently but a deeper more serious problem emerges. An example would be a dog who is treated for an inflammatory skin condition with steroid based medications and shampoos. The skin condition clears up but the dog subsequently has symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease or inflammation in the liver. Conventional medicine may treat these as unrelated diseases but a homeopathic practitioner would see the same disease being driven deeper into the body by a treatment that suppressed symptoms but didn t cure the problem. Fortunately I m seeing more clients who are choosing not to vaccinate their dogs and who are now using homeopathic nosodes as a healthier alternative to vaccination. I believe we are on the edge of a revolution and people are starting to witness and understand the dramatic side effects of toxic medicinal chemicals. Dog owners are now seeking alternatives in all areas of health care for their dog and questioning the quality and safety of conventional veterinary care. I believe this is the first step we must take to make a difference and start to see a decline in the cases of autoimmune conditions. Lori Rose RHom Lic BSH Homeopathic Medicine runs a busy practice in County Down Ireland. Lori consults with pet owners all over the world and has also started a charity called Animal Lifeline where she works to rescue rehabilitate and rehome sighthounds as well as other breeds and animals. Lori lives with her husband and six dogs. Visit Lori s practice and online store at www.lorirosehomeopathy.com Homeopathy And Cure When using any system of medicine it s important to understand the difference between palliation suppression and cure. The symptoms you see during an illness are not the disease itself but the body s response to the disease. It s vital to understand that forcing the symptoms to disappear with medication is not the same as curing the disease. For decades homeopathic practitioners have called vaccine induced problems vaccinosis. From my experience and that of other practitioners I say without reservation that many chronic diseases are caused after vaccination. If a disease is truly cured however the symptoms will go away permanently without any further treatment. Once cured the dog will return to his former level of health and vitality. This process can take time and often the body must produce discharges or other symptoms as it works its way back to health. If a disease is being palliated the symptom or symptoms disappear usually very quickly but if the medication is stopped the symptoms eventually come back. Over time you often need to use more and more medication to stop the symptoms and many times other problems arise because the underlying imbalance that produced the symptoms in the first place is still present. 20 September - October 2013 5 Essential Oils your dog shouldn t be without By Nayana Morag Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) A protecting oil that helps unblock things. For wounds itchy skin allergies stings bites to stop bleeding (I use it to stop bleeding if I nick the quick when nail clipping) ear infections kidney infections anti-inflammatory for sprains and pulls or arthritis physical or emotional trauma. Deep blue yarrow is more anti-inflammatory than the paler blue or green one. Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) This gentle oil is the most soothing of the essential oils. Soothes skin and states of mind mildly sedative relaxing for burns bruises grazes flea bites repels fleas antiseptic reduces scarring helps wounds heal well (do not apply to deep wounds until you are sure they are clear of infection) steadies the heart reduces anxiety hyperactivity hotspots and fungal infections. Be sure to buy good quality as lavender is often adulterated. Cedarwood Atlas or Himalaya (Cedrus Atlantica or deodara) Calming and strengthening and a great pest and flea repellent. Antiseptic for the lungs anticatarrhal expectorant for coughs such as kennel cough stimulates circulation good for stiffness arthritis back pain stimulates hair growth clears scruffy skin and dandruff strengthens kidney function diuretic lymphatic decongestant and general tonic calming especially for nervous aggression extreme timidity or shyness or those who need grounding and a sense of inner security. Helichrysum (Helichrysum italicum) The magical antidote to anything irritant or offensive and anything that bites including other dogs Antiseptic heals broken capillaries soft swellings broken bones deeply bruised emotions resentful anger anti-viral anti-allergenic good for the liver and digestive process particularly for dogs who tend to vomit clears mucus from lungs and supports immune function. Lemon (Citrus limon) Uplifting and clarifying it clears confusion is an immune stimulant antiviral antiseptic stimulates pancreatic function antidiabetic anti-anemic anticoagulant antifungal antisclerotic antiseptic (air) antispasmodic (stomach) breaks down excess bone deposits good for arthritis and kidney stones clears mental confusion increases concentration and assimilation of new information increases trust in self and others and is useful with dogs who have moved homes a lot. DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 21 Essential Oils for Dogs a Primer By Nayana Morag E ssential oils offer dog guardians a simple respectful way to keep their dogs happy and healthy. Essential oils can help boost your dog s immune system fight problems such as itchy skin separation anxiety or digestive upset (to name but a few) and increase the level of trust and understanding between you. How to use essential oils safely In the wild animals keep themselves healthy by eating plants and minerals that they need. Yes even carnivores eat herbs and grasses - you ve probably seen it in your own back yard. When your dog eats grass or drinks from a dirty puddle he s expressing that instinct. Scientifically this is known as zoopharmacognosy. When using essential oils we use this natural sense and allow dogs to select which essential oils and herbal oils they need. In a domestic environment we limit our dogs choices controlling what they eat who they play with and how they spend their days. This causes stress. When we offer essential oils we reduce this stress by respecting their choices and listening to their preferences. Any time we reduce stress we increase health. Basic rules Decide which oils might help your dog. Make a shortlist of about five oils and put the closed bottles on the floor well spaced out. Encourage your dog to smell the bottles. Watch carefully and take note of which ones your dog sniffs more intently or tries to lick. Once he has found the oil he needs he ll stop sniffing. He might also try to pick up the bottle so be prepared to stop him from running off with it. The ability to pick exactly what they need is so acute that I have watched dogs go through my collection of 60 essential oils sniffing the closed bottles till they find what they want. Every animal is clear about which essential oil he needs and will guide his own healing if given the chance. 22 September - October 2013 The major responses There are three major ways in which dogs choose to interact with aromatic extracts smelling licking or localized topical application. Inhalation is the most powerful as the essential oils go straight into the brain via the olfactory system altering the brain chemistry. Dogs often go into a trance eyes flickering or fall into a deep sleep. I ve seen emotional problems clear up completely after one session like this. Dogs are more likely to want the oils orally if they have a physical problem or one that isn t deeply rooted. Often dogs will indicate by pointing at their body with their heads stamping a foot or moving into you. This tells you that they want the oil topically on a particular spot many times an acupuncture point. In this case rub a little oil into the area indicated. sometimes even wary. If your dog likes the oil he ll keep his head turned towards you or come closer. If he does not like the oil he will turn away put his head down or otherwise avoid the smell. Licking the lips quickly is another indication of interest in the oil. A big yawning lick can indicate they are feeling stressed and you need to move the oil further away. Allow your dog to settle at a comfortable distance from the bottle he may move away from it at first. As long as he stays in the room with you with his nose in your direction its a positive response. Allow your dog to leave the area if he chooses. One of the keys to success is patience. Don t rush to decide if your dog likes the oil or not just wait quietly and give your dog time to decide what he wants to do. Take the character of each individual dog into account shy ones need more time to interact while greedy enthusiastic types need to settle down and engage fully. Dilute the oil Once your dog has chosen the oil(s) dilute each oil separately with 1 to 3 drops in 1 teaspoon of cold pressed vegetable oil such as sunflower or olive oil. Offer each diluted oil separately and follow your dog s responses. Offer the oils once or twice a day until your dog loses interest. He ll have a different response to each oil he s chosen and the responses will change daily. If his response is very keen offer the oils twice a day for a moderate interest offer once a day. Your dog will lose interest in the oils within approximately three days to a week at which point you should see a marked change in the problem. Cautions Use only good quality essential oils the best quality is usually available through smaller companies who cater to professional aromatherapists. Always dilute essential oils. Overuse of essential oils can cause skin irritation in some cases. Undiluted essential oils assault the dog s sensitive sense of smell. A very small amount of essential oil is highly effective so there is no need to take the extra risks involved with using undiluted oils. Never be tempted to add essential oils to your dog s food rub them on him if he doesn t want you to or otherwise force him to take them. This can cause adverse reactions. Nayana Morag became interested in aromatherapy for animals in 1996. After seeing how the oils helped her to bond with traumatized horses she earned her certificate in animal aromatherapy in 1999. She has since earned a post graduate certificate. Visit Nayana at www.essentialanimals.com Understanding your dog s responses When you offer essential oils to your dog you must watch carefully interpret his responses and follow his direction on how he wants to interact with the oils. This develops your listening and observational skills making you more attentive to your dog in all areas of his life. And your dog loves that To start hold the open bottle in your hand and let your dog come towards it. He may look a little surprised or perplexed at first A Quick Guide to Using Essential Oils Select a few oils and let your dog choose which ones he needs Assess the reaction For as long as the dog shows interest Losing Interest Make a shortlist of possible oils Allow your animal to smell each bottle of undiluted essential oil or hydrosol and choose which ones he likes. Keep the lid of the bottle on when offering to dogs cats and small animals lid off for equines and larger animals. Assess your dog s reaction to the oils and dilute them 1 to 3 drops per 5 ml (1 teaspoon) Offer the essential oil to your dog twice a day assessing his response each time and acting accordingly. When your dog shows no interest in an oil do not offer it for two to three days then try again. If the animal still shows no interest then he no longer needs that particular oil. THIS IS GOOD If your dog still wants oils after two weeks reassess. If the condition is improving continue with oils. If no improvement check you have removed the cause of the problem try different oils spend quiet time together without the oils. Use hydrosols for ongoing support in chronic conditions. DogsNaturallyMagazine.com No loss of interest 23 Canine Cancer By Charles E Loops DVM Cho osing Supplements Wisely September - October 2013 24 W hen cancer has been diagnosed or is highly suspected in your canine companion you are faced with trying to make some difficult and important decisions that can impact your dog s future health and wellbeing. If you are considering surgery chemotherapy radiation or a combination of several Western medical modalities you are probably also looking for other supportive therapies to maximize the quality of life. If you are pursuing a completely natural approach you are looking for as many effective therapies and supplements as possible to prolong your companion s life and preserve his quality of life. The information out there is confusing complicated and very contradictory. Every practitioner or expert seems to have a different opinion or suggestion. Some supplements and medications seem to conflict with one another and philosophies of therapy vary widely. In general many veterinary oncologists or cancer specialists have very little knowledge concerning alternative approaches or supplements dealing with cancer. Often the opinions they have are uninformed and biased in favor of Western medicine being the only effective form of treatment. Most people end up searching the internet and find volumes of information and misinformation and the difficulty is in wading through articles and articles about different supplements that all seem to offer a certain cure for cancer. Some supplements are difficult to find most are very expensive and the real question is does this product have any merit or value in the treatment of my animal companion With all approaches to cancer for both treatment choices and supplement choices nothing works for all patients and for all cancers. Every person faces the same dilemma and has to make the best choices for their companion s treatment and the supplements they will have to take at least twice daily. Some of the factors one should consider when choosing supplements include pathic or a combination or variation of other holistic modalities. If you are dealing with an oncologist and chemotherapy or radiation there will be differences of opinion on what supplements might interfere. Your holistic practitioner will know more about this than the oncologist who generally doesn t understand any alternative therapies or how they work but only assumes they will either interfere with their therapies or offer no benefit. The choices of which supplements to give will also vary with the modality of therapy your animal is receiving. Some homeopaths don t like any supplements or just a very select few so that nothing can interfere with the action of the homeopathic remedy antidote it confuse the interpretation of the progress of the patient or the action of the homeopathic remedy. With Chinese medicine you are often giving so many different Chinese herbs that only a limited number of supplements can be added for the sake of the patient. With a naturopathic approach you are often overwhelmed with supplements that address every aspect of imbalance in the patient. Finding a balance in all of this that provides the maximum benefit to the patient can be very challenging The following supplements however will benefit any cancer patient no matter which therapy you choose Fish Oils Supplementation with fish oils Omega-3 s and other Omega fatty acids is beneficial for all dogs in any stage of life and the best source for healthy animals is from fish - especially oily fish such as Quality of Life This includes that of both the dog and the caregiver. How often and how many different supplements can your animal companion be expected to swallow or tolerate in their food and treats Granted some dogs are just great patients and will put up with anything but for many trying to give them things that taste bad will keep them from eating or greatly stress them. Or at some point their stomach or bowels might reject these products. These issues affect both your quality of life and your dog s. Unique Treats D-Lectables Unique Rabbit Snack Awesome Health Quality of Supplements Consider not only the source and reliability of the product but the value of the supplement overall and its effectiveness in helping your companion with cancer. Cost Since most supplements are given continuously consider the cost on a month to month basis. Do the value and effectiveness of the product merit the expense With a large dog there are some supplements that can cost 500 to 1000 every month. Crunchy Organ Variety Pack N-Trail Mix Compatibility Your primary holistic practitioner should be your guide when determining the compatibility of supplements with your dog s treatment plan. This is the expert managing the primary therapy for your companion whether it is homeopathic Chinese medicine naturo- Order Today AnimalDoctorHolistic.com DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 25 In general many veterinary oncologists or cancer specialists have very little knowledge concerning alternative approaches or supplements dealing with cancer. Often the opinions they have are uninformed and biased in favor of Western medicine being the only effective form of treatment. Most people end up searching the internet and find volumes of information and misinformation and the difficulty is in wading through articles and articles about different supplements that all seem to offer a certain cure for cancer. Some supplements are difficult to find most are very expensive and the real question is does this product have any merit or value in the treatment of my animal companion sardines salmon herring etc. If you don t feed your dogs any fish even occasionally then supplementation with a small amount of fish oil can be given. Several times weekly will benefit the healthy dog as much as every day administration. With cancer patients we are looking to the total EPA and DHA contained in the product given. Sardines and other oily fish can certainly supply part of the Omega-3 s for the cancer patient but not in therapeutic quantity so giving fish oils therapeutically is what I recommend. The daily dosage of fish oil that I suggest per 25 pounds body weight is 1400mg of the combination of EPA and DHA. So for a 50 pound dog you would give 2800mg combined DHA and EPA each day. All fish oil capsules are 1000mg. but it is the amount of EPA and DHA contained in that capsule that determines the value of the product. Giving high doses of fish oil requires using a highly distilled or molecularly distilled product to avoid contaminants such as heavy metals that can accumulate in the body. These are the fish oils that are more concentrated and contain higher quantities of EPA and DHA per capsule. One of the products we recommend has a combination of EPA DHA of 700mg per capsule so a 50 pound dog would get four capsules daily. This can be divided between the two meals and is best given with food. There are other combination products and other sources of Omega-3 s that can be substituted for fish oils in general. Flax seed oil is too high in Omega-6 s in my opinion to be used as a supplement for dogs with cancer. Fish oils do not interfere with any type of therapy including radiation and chemotherapy. In fact it has been noted that they help with the side effects of these therapies and help support the patient suffering through these therapies in general. Colostrums These are products derived from the first milk of lactating cows that contain immune factors to stimulate immune system development and provide immune factors that combat cancer and viral infections among other benefits. Do these products cure cancer I think that happens with rarity but as part of a cancer protocol they seem to have benefit. Some practitioners like the raw form products and others prefer concentrated and refined products. Both seem to be efficacious and can be used together. I m referring to colostrum versus transfer factor products. These supplements are often found in combination with Beta Glucans and other immune stimulants. Astragalus This Chinese herb is best used in combination with other Chinese herbs to boost the immune system. Ligustrum is the main other herb that when combined with astragalus boosts the immune system and seems to also have tumor inhibiting effects by the activation of interferon and NK activity in the body. In my practice we often recommend a product with ten Chinese herbs for this purpose. Antioxidants Antioxidants comprise the one class of supplements that may interfere with chemotherapy or radiation. Since antioxidants attack free radicals in the body which potentially cause cell damage and chemotherapy and radiation stimulate free radical activity to kill cancer cells their use at the same time is controversial. My recommendation to clients having their dogs treated with both homeopathy and chemo and or radiation is to avoid potent antioxidants during radiation treatment periods and for several days surrounding a chemo treatment day. Foods rich in antioxidants and vitamins in normal doses do not have to be stopped. Immune System Stimulants Mushro om Complexes There are many mushroom complex products available with a variety of combinations of different mushrooms. Some are extremely expensive and others more reasonable. Most contain a combination of Maitake Reishi and Agaricus mushrooms at the very least. These supplements are utilized worldwide to fight cancer and there are many studies and anecdotal cases to support their efficacy. Most holistic practitioners include one or more of these products in their treatment plan. Dosages will vary with the product. Toxicity is not an issue but taste can be especially with the Reishi mushroom. Beta glucans a polysaccharide complex is believed to be one compound responsible for the immune boosting effects of mushrooms. Fo ods and Vitamins Berries pomegranates green tea cruciferous vegetables (broccoli cauliflower Brussels sprouts etc.) and vitamins A C E and selenium are all naturally occurring sources of antioxidants. CoEnzymeQ10 This supplement can be useful in high doses. I suggest 300mg daily as a dose for any size dog dealing with cancer. Grape Se ed Extract This is a potent antioxidant. Various forms are available such as a pine bark extract called Pycnogenol. The dosage is generally 1mg to 2mg per pound of body weight per day. 26 September - October 2013 Glutathione This is an important intracellular antioxidant that mostly works in the liver cells to destroy free radicals. It can t be taken directly by mouth because the stomach and small intestine destroy it but the components to promote metabolism of glutathione by the body can be taken orally such as N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC). This is found in many products that seem to increase glutathione production. use quite a bit more to obtain any therapeutic value. It s always best to start at the lower end of a dosage range and work up to higher levels. This is generally true for any supplement. In an ideal world it s also best to start one supplement at a time to determine if your dog will tolerate that particular product. Hoxsey Formula This is another herbal combination of four to six herbs and anecdotal evidence for its use mainly with osteosarcoma can be found. Some practitioners have seen good results with this product. The above is not a complete list of potential supplements. These are ones I have used extensively in my practice or have observed my clients giving to their dogs with cancer over the years. More supplements are listed on my website. I firmly believe a varied diet containing high quality foods preferably with raw meat and foods with antioxidant activity is the best supplement for good health. Holistic treatment of cancer whether it s homeopathy which I use in my practice Chinese medicine homotoxicology or combinations of other therapies will provide the best chance of beating cancer or prolonging your dog s life with quality. Supplements are just that they supplement the modality of treatment that you choose for you dog. Dr Charles Loops has a special interest in treating cancer and the extended reach of the telephone consultation has allowed his thousands of canine and feline patients to benefit from homeopathic prescribing. To learn more information on homeopathic cancer treatment and supplements visit www.charlesloopsdvm.com Herbals Western herbs can be used as a primary treatment for cancer if you are consulting with an herbalist specializing in cancer treatment and your dog s treatment protocol is individualized. There are also combination products available for general use in treating cancer. Some of these are listed below Essiac This herbal combination has been used modified and taken in capsule tincture and tea form for decades to treat cancers. There are many anecdotal cases promoting its effectiveness. I haven t seen significant results in my practice where this herbal was added as a supplement. Curcumin or Turmeric This is a useful supplement that seems to slow the progression of tumors by various mechanisms. The dosage can range from 125mg to 500mg for a 25 pound dog so one can determine the correct dosage from there. Some more refined products recommend a lower dosage just follow instructions. Turmeric used for cooking contains only a small amount of curcumin so you would have to DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 27 Are You Playing By Jodie Gruenstern DVM CVA Jeopardy with Your Pet s Nutrition For 25 points the answer is menadione bisulfite which may cause anemia. The question is what s Vitamin K in natural pet food For 50 points the answer is retinyl palmitate which may cause loss of appetite irritability or bone changes. The question is what s Vitamin A For 100 points the answer is ascorbic acid which may cause diarrhea dry nose or nose bleeds. The question is what s Vitamin C 28 September - October 2013 P et parents have long ago learned to inspect pet food labels for meat terminology order of protein and grain sources and presence of artificial preservatives. But how many discerning pet parents know how to review the long list of vitamins and minerals on the package Who would think that these could be the most detrimental of all the ingredients Here is a typical sample natural brand with added vitamins and minerals Chicken Chicken Meal Brown Rice Oats Barley Rice Menhaden Fish Meal Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols) Natural Chicken Flavors Flaxseed Dried Egg Product Potatoes Carrots Herring Natural Flavors Whole Eggs Apples Carrots Sweet Potatoes Herring Oil Dried Kelp Potassium Chloride Dicalcium Phosphate Salt Garlic Vitamin E Supplement (various fermentation products) Calcium Carbonate Choline Chloride Zinc Sulfate Vitamin A Supplement Vitamin D3 Supplement Ferrous Sulfate Copper Sulfate Manganese Sulfate Niacin Calcium Pantothenate Vitamin B12 Supplement Folic Acid Riboflavin Sodium Selenite Pyridoxine Hydrochloride Calcium Iodate Thiamine Mononitrate Biotin Cobalt Sulfate Rosemary Extract. Why are vitamins and minerals added to foods Don t vitamins and minerals occur naturally in the foods we eat To put it simply there are not enough in processed foods to prevent disease. When a meat grain vegetable or fruit is cooked or heat processed in any manner nutrients are lost to varying degrees. This is an accepted fact in the pet food industry. The industry is aware that certain minimum levels of vitamins and minerals are necessary to avoid devastating disease. The same industry is aware that excesses of synthetic vitamins and minerals can also cause devastating disease. Consumers have been trained to believe that foods that are approved by the pet food industry watch dog the American Association of Feed Control Operators (AAFCO) are safe and balanced. But are they Unnatural vs natural does it matter Let s analyze just one mineral out of the above list of synthetic additives sodium selenite Sodium selenite contains selenium. When we eat natural unprocessed whole foods such as nuts meat mushrooms fish or eggs we eat selenium that is complexed and consumed along with other nutrients which help the selenium function properly in the body. Humans and animals derive selenium primarily from foods. In plants and animals selenium is primarily localized in the protein fraction (Ferretti and Levandar 1976). Brazil nuts are the richest dietary source of selenium. High levels of selenium are also found in kidney tuna crab and lobster. But these foods contain selenium not sodium selenite. Both mutagenic activity (cancer causing) and antimutagenic (cancer preventing) activity have been attributed to selenium the concentration and the chemical form in which selenium is administered appear to be critical in determining its effects. At the trace levels normally found in biological systems (plants and animals) selenium apparently acts as an antimutagenic oxygen-radical scavenger but at higher concentrations selenium is capable of inducing mutations (Arciszewskaet al 1982 Shamberger 1985 Kramer and Ames 1988). Where does sodium selenite come from anyway Sodium selenite is prepared by evaporating an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide (lye or drain cleaner) and selenous acid (Merck Index 1983). Selenous acid is produced by combining water and selenium dioxide which is produced during the industrial purification of copper. Why we need synthetic ingredients In order to gain AAFCO approval a pet food must meet a feeding trial requirement or a standard vitamin and mineral requirement. The least expensive way to meet this requirement is to add an accepted blend of premeasured synthetic vitamins and minerals to the processed diet. Another way would be to add large amounts of healthful foods which would provide enough nutrition despite the processing but expensive testing or feeding trials would be necessary to prove the foods are adequate. For this reason most manufacturers add the standard vitamin-mineral mix. This mix may be added to canned kibble freeze dried or even commercial frozen raw diets. How can you recognize the vitamins and minerals on the ingredient label Grab a bag of kibble. If it calls itself natural it quite likely also states with added vitamins and minerals. AAFCO requires this statement because the vitamins and minerals are synthetic not natural. The group is usually listed in the middle to bottom of the ingredient label as all ingredients are listed in order of weight. Most of the names will sound like chemicals. Naturally the best for AllNaturalFood&Treats Aromatherapy&Homeopathics FlowerEssences FunToys Collars Leashes&Bowls Clothing&UniqueItemsforthePetLover PETS AND THEIR PEOPLE New items added to our web store daily 262.363.3338 www.endoftheleash.com Over 35 Varieties of Holistic Pet Foods DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 29 Does this sound like something we should eat According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) prolonged exposure to sodium selenite may cause paleness coated tongue stomach disorders nervousness metallic taste and a garlic odor of the breath. Fluid in the abdominal cavity damage to the liver and spleen and anemia have been reported in animals. Do you know any pets with these disorders How many times have you heard a pet parent comment that a change from kibble to fresh raw food improved the pet s breath Interesting Solutions for the synthetic nutrient dilemma Consumer Demand When most pet foods contained artificial preservatives (BHA BHT ethoxyquin) it was consumer pressure that drove the industry to manufacture their pet diets without them. It will likely be pet parent education and consumer demand that will again cause the industry to produce pet diets without these toxic vitamin and mineral additions. Many brands of raw food and at least one brand of kibble and canned already exist to fulfill this need. One of the most devastating recalls in recent pet food history occurred when a reputable manufacturer accidentally dropped too much of a synthetic vitamin into the recipe. Dogs died. Generally too much of a whole food source like oranges or Brussels sprouts will at worst cause some raging diarrhea but the body can recognize and purge the excess appropriately This can t happen with their synthetic counterparts. Pet food costs are rising but loving pet parents have realized that healthy foods cost more and they are willing to pay for safe and effective supplements and food. When manufacturers realize there is a consumer need and willingness to purchase they ll respond by producing better and better pet diets. Consumption of a synthetic vitamin or mineral or even hormone replacement therapy works initially when the receptor sites are empty and desperate for the nutrient. But when the receptors become clogged with the inadequately functioning faux nutrients the cell receptors cannot function properly. You or your pet may feel great after beginning a new synthetic supplement or even a new type of diet only for the original symptoms to recur after some time passes. Education Pet guardians must continue to seek out nutritional education and not be swayed to purchase foods based just on high cost or influential marketing. Dog and cat lovers need to become aware of and support companies who produce ethically. Purchase species appropriate fresh foods and treats. Learn to read ingredient labels. Share this information with family friends and fellow pet enthusiasts. Encourage veterinarians and other pet providers to be open minded. Don t just accept the status quo. Disseminate informative literature and ask good questions The selenium we want to eat is a trace element and a cofactor for reducing antioxidant enzymes and is found in animals and most plants. This biologic source of selenium is crucial to the proper functioning of every cell in the body especially the thyroid gland. Selenium may inhibit Hashimoto s disease the human version of autoimmune thyroiditis which has reached epidemic levels in our dogs. Selenium can even reduce the effects of mercury toxicity. Whole Food Supplements In our decaying world where soils devoid of nutrients are producing plants and animals with vitamin and mineral deficiencies we must realize the solution is NOT to fill the gap with synthetics but rather seek out whole food sources. Fresh diets can be analyzed to ascertain the adequacy of nutrients. A body can thrive on smaller amounts of whole food source vitamins than it can on their synthetic counterparts. If the addition of a vitamin or mineral nutrient is necessary it should ideally be added from a whole food source. There are manufacturing processes that can concentrate the whole food vitamins available from cruciferous vegetables berries and herbs and other plants. Organ concentrates can also be used as nutrient resources to prevent and repair a myriad of disorders. The solution to pet food safety and nutrition is not in the laboratory. It lies in the unlocking and conscientious use of the abundant treasures from Mother Nature. Jodie Gruenstern DVM CVA has been practicing veterinary medicine in Muskego Wisconsin since 1987. She is a certified veterinary acupuncturist and food therapist by the Chi Institute. Dr Jodie is the owner of the Animal Doctor Holistic Veterinary Complex an integrated full service small animal practice. For more info healthy products or an educational DVD visit AnimalDoctorHolistic.com Can cells recognize unnatural vitamin and mineral sources In addition to the realization that unnatural sources of selenium can be toxic their presence can inhibit the ability of natural sources to function properly in the body. Cells have receptor sites for the attachment of biologic factors which turn cellular functions on and off. These receptors can become clogged with lookalike vitamins or minerals. This phenomenon can explain why the consumption of a synthetic vitamin or mineral or even hormone replacement therapy works initially when the receptor sites are empty and desperate for the nutrient. But when the receptors become clogged with the inadequately functioning faux nutrients the cell receptors cannot function properly. You or your pet may feel great after beginning a new synthetic supplement or even a new type of diet only for the original symptoms to recur after some time passes. It s important to remember that the problem doesn t start and end with selenium. Every synthetic vitamin and mineral carries similar risks and shortcomings. 30 September - October 2013 GARLIC FrienD or FoE By Deva Khalsa DVM Garlic (Allium sativum) has been valued for thousands of years for its medicinal purposes. Five thousand year old Sanskrit and Chinese medical manuscripts describe the benefits of garlic. Today garlic is grown all over the world and is making a strong comeback as a potent effective natural remedy. G 32 arlic is a member of the lily family and of the same genus as the onion. Garlic has been used for thousands of years as a medicinal herb in fact Hippocrates advocated garlic for infections cancer and digestive disorders. The great Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder also recommended garlic for a wide variety of ailments ranging from the common cold to epilepsy and cancer. Modern science has also established the fact that garlic boosts immunity gets rid of bacterial viral and fungal infections enhances liver function helps detoxify the cells in the body lowers cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood and even fights cancer. Raw garlic cloves contain a high amount of a compound called alliin as well as the enzyme alliinase. When garlic is crushed or diced the alliin comes into contact with the alliinase enzyme and the compound allicin is formed. Cooked garlic is not nearly as therapeutic as freshly crushed or finely diced raw garlic. A Victim Of Poor Press Recently the safety of garlic for dogs has come into question. That s because one research study used a huge amount of garlic in their test dogs. When garlic is fed in very large amounts to dogs it can cause oxidative damage to red blood cells leading to a medical September - October 2013 situation called Heinz body anemia. Knowledge is a powerful thing but astute pet owners should gather all the data about garlic before shunning this celebrated bulb. Ironically garlic is approved as a flavoring spice or seasoning for use in pet food yet the FDA has listed garlic in its poisonous plant database. That s because a study suggested that when garlic is fed in excessive quantities (5 grams of whole garlic per kilogram of the dog s body weight) it might cause damage to the red blood cells of dogs. Considering the data presented in this study the average 75 pound Golden Retriever would need to eat five full heads of garlic or about 75 cloves of garlic in each meal before there would be any adverse effect on the red blood cells. Similarly a dog weighing a mere 10 lbs would need to eat 25 grams of garlic - a bit less than an entire head of garlic or about 8 to10 large garlic cloves in every meal to experience any adverse effects. benefits in 1958. Modern researchers have compared the effectiveness of garlic with that of antibiotics and have found that garlic has a broad spectrum antibacterial effect. Additionally bacteria don t seem to build up a resistance to garlic as they do to many modern antibiotics. But that s not all. Garlic increases the immune activity of Killer Cells (cells that seek out and kill invading bacteria and cancer cells). Uncooked garlic also helps lower blood triglycerides and cholesterol making it useful for certain breeds (Schnauzers and Beagles) that are predisposed to this problem. A 1988 study found that diallyl sulfide a compound in garlic prevented tumor formation in rats. Other studies have shown that garlic inhibits various forms of cancer growth in the body. Garlic also enhances overall liver function and triggers enzyme responses to help break down waste materials before they go into the bloodstream. In other words garlic helps the liver out - and in today s toxic world our dogs livers need all the help they can get. Additionally garlic has been fed to dogs to help prevent flea infestations. There are many products on the market containing garlic for this very purpose. Both powdered and raw garlic are effective although raw garlic has significantly more health benefits. When using garlic for flea prevention it s important to use a castile soap or detergent free shampoo. Dogs don t sweat as humans do and the garlic aroma comes out in the oil on their coat. It takes several weeks for the garlic compounds to build up in the oil and a detergent shampoo removes the oil so you ll be back to square one again. A host of studies provide evidence that the allicin in garlic works to inhibit cancer formation. With cancer being the number one cause of death in dogs in the United States let s all get going with garlic How many dogs do you know who would either be given or would want to eat that many cloves of garlic Drinking too much water can kill you but we all drink water. In fact we all know that drinking water is a healthy thing to do. So what s healthy and what s too much It s obvious that all this garlic is bad for your dog hype has been taken totally out of context. Furthermore the total reported adverse affects from garlic add up to a non-event over the past 22 years. The National Animal Supplement Council responsibly records both Adverse Events and Serious Adverse Events resulting from the use of natural products. A Serious Adverse Event is defined as An Adverse Event with a transient incapacitating effect (i.e. rendering the animal unable to function normally for a short period of time such as with a seizure) or non-transient (i.e. permanent) health effect. 900 million doses of garlic over a 22 year time span resulted in only two Serious Adverse Events and these episodes could very well have been due not to garlic but to another ingredient in the mix. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the risk of using garlic is so low that it s statistically insignificant. How To Prepare Garlic To release its medicinal properties garlic first has to go through a chemical process so the allicin can be created. It s best to finely chop or crush the garlic clove then wait a few minutes to allow the chemical reaction to occur. The healing allicin is unstable when exposed to air and heat so don t wait more than 20 minutes before you top your dog s meal with some healthy raw garlic. A host of studies provide evidence that the allicin in garlic works to inhibit cancer formation. With cancer being the number one cause of death in dogs in the United States let s all get going with garlic Buy a garlic press or simply chop some up. You can then mix it in with your dog s meal. While cooking garlic destroys allicin other components in cooked or powdered garlic continue to provide some benefits to your dog s health. The cooked garlic will still function as an antioxidant and help flush toxins out. If you cook meals for your dog it s totally fine to add garlic as a flavoring and for improved health. It s no wonder garlic has been valued for thousands of years for its medicinal purposes. Five thousand year old Sanskrit and Chinese medical manuscripts describe the benefits of garlic but today garlic is still grown all over the world and is making a strong comeback as a potent effective natural remedy. Since beginning her holistically oriented veterinary practice over 25 years ago Dr Khalsa has been incorporating homeopathy acupuncture Chinese herbs nutritional advice allergy elimination techniques such as NAET and also JMT into her approach. Dr Khalsa is a Fellow and Professor of the British Institute of Homeopathy. It s Time To Reconsider Garlic What is significant is all the positive research delineating the medicinal powers of garlic. Among garlic s reputed benefits perhaps the best known is its natural antibiotic activity with reports going back through history. In fact Pasteur noted garlic s antibacterial DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 33 Pet Food Packaging the GOOD the BAD and the Dangerous By Marcie DeWolf I t s 2013 and many of us have endeavored to feed our loved ones healthier foods. We buy organic we buy products that are locally grown and we re far more likely than the last generation to read the ingredients on the back of the fancy packages to find out what s inside. But reading ingredients isn t enough what that package is made of is also important to your pet s health 34 September - October 2013 Most pets can t read (though I m convinced my two dogs can or they wouldn t play tug-o-war with the morning paper every time I forget to put it out of reach). That means that our best friends rely on us to keep them safe. If you re reading this magazine you re likely one of the select few responsible caring dog owners. You may be laser focused on what s inside the foods and products you buy for your dog. But have you considered the packages themselves Pet Food Packaging Dangers Have you ever taken a big drink from a plastic water bottle that s been sitting in the hot car for a couple of days and wondered who injected liquid plastic flavoring into your mountain spring refreshment It s well known that chemicals used in packaging can migrate into foods but what are the potential health dangers for our pets Remember to read not only about the ingredients but also to look for phrases such as eco friendly packaging and BPA free container. These phrases are not as common as we d love to see simply because it s time consuming and costly for companies to champion the cause of package safety. Bisphenol A (BPA) BPA causes endocrine disruption which inhibits the production and function of natural hormones. Research links BPA to possible negative health effects such as impaired brain function heart disease diabetes cancer asthma and reproductive disorders. BPA is very common in plastic packages and is often found in coatings inside paper and metal containers. We see it in packaging for both frozen and dry dog foods treats and supplements (it s also prevalent in food and water bowls made from plastic). Phthalates Like BPA phthalates are another endocrine disruptor and are found in many types of plastics. Printing inks on paper can also contain phthalates (and other endocrine disruptors including benzophenones and mineral oils). Phthalates are not bound tightly to plastics and therefore easily leach into foods and liquids. Reproductive toxicity allergies asthma and malformations of the reproductive system have been linked to phthalates yet they remain common in packaging. Amber Technology Nutraceuticals For Pets Since 1997 Nutraceuticals For Pets VIBACTRA PLUS TM Safer Options What types of packaging materials are best and what should you be aware of with each potentially safer solution (Natural Antibiotic) Plastic Not all plastics are evil Though many of the common plastics contain chemicals that none of us want to feed our pets there are more ecological safer alternatives. Biofilms for instance are often made from non-genetically modified corn and can perform as well as or better than conventional plastics. Biofilms are often an ideal packaging solution for foods. Overall biofilms can be a good choice although not all are the same and some are made from genetically modified corn and recent research has shown certain types can leach chemicals. But overall biofilms are a giant step in the right direction. VIBACTRA PLUS helps with -Stimulating immunity - Microscopic parasites - Viruses and bacteria - Sooths the digestive system - Free radicals - Protects from illnesses if exposed - Some respiratory infections Contains Olive Leaf Mustard Seed Black Seed Pau D Arco Cloves Jatoba Grapefruit Seed Extract Alcohol Distilled Water Glass This should be a no brainer because glass is clean solid and considered to be infinitely recyclable. It s never been shown to leach Organic www.ambertech.com Toll free 877-727-8243 DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 35 anything. That said glass is extremely breakable and very heavy. Have you ever tried to feed Fido out of glass Not a pretty picture. By itself glass is one of the cleanest options yet it does require a lid and that s where things can get sticky. Seals are usually made of PVC so our pets could be at risk. However depending on the packaging inside the glass and where the seal is located between the lid and glass many products don t come in contact with the lid and are generally safe. Cardboard Just like paper cardboard is recyclable but it s stronger and can be recycled a few more times. Unfortunately cardboard alone is not a good protector of products and it too needs coatings or a liner often made of plastic (BPA and phthalate warning ). Also from an environmentally friendly perspective keep in mind that if the cardboard is coated or soiled (think greasy pizza box) it s not recyclable. Tin Steel and Aluminum Tin steel and aluminum are right up there in recyclability with glass. Cans are everywhere and where would dog food be without them As with most things however they re very often coated with a material to protect against rust food discoloration and flavor loss. Some of these coatings should be cause for concern. Fortunately there have been leaps and bounds made in coating research and there are a number of much safer coatings out there for companies to discover and utilize in products. What Can Be Done Keep reading those labels but remember to read not only about the ingredients but also to look for phrases such as eco friendly packaging and BPA free container. These phrases are not as common as we d like to see simply because it s time consuming and costly for companies to champion the cause of package safety. A number of companies have led the charge to create safer packaging and increased consumer demand for safer packaging will undoubtedly cause more companies to follow suit. So take the time to call or email those companies that make your favorite products and let them know you d like to see increased package safety for your pets Marcie DeWolf and her husband Geoff own and operate Naturally Naked Pet Products (www.naturallynakedpetproducts.com) which produces a supplement and dog treats made from New Zealand Green Lipped Mussels - safely packaged of course Marcie and her husband Geoff live in California with their children Bailey and Chase dogs Gripper and Snickerdoodle six chickens and a horse. Paper Paper is a great product for earth friendly recycling however paper can only be recycled so many times. It eventually wears out and needs new (potentially damaging) additives to make it stronger. The other issue is that again most paper packaging needs a coating to prevent spoilage and odor from escaping. Depending on the type of coating there s the potential for chemicals to escape into the contents the package is meant to protect. Plus some of those coatings prevent the paper from ever being recycled again. BARK UP THE RIGHT TREE I have a 13 year-old miniature poodle who was looking and acting his age. After a few weeks on VITAL VITIES Mortie is like a puppy and people at the park now actually think he is a puppy. Elise My Golden Retrievers have the most fantastic coats since they began VITAL VITIES. Even my puppies are born with great coats and confirmations. The pups have been unbelievably smart. At 6 weeks old they are all going outside to do their business. Never seen anything like it. Deb We researched VITAL VITIES and found they contain every vitamin and mineral needed for health and intelligence along with whole super-foods. We don t know if it s because it s so complete so rich in every nutrient or because the ingredients are protected from degrading by that special coating but our dogs are in the best shape they ve ever been in. We believe in supplements and have been raising dogs for 25 years. There is nothing to compare. Steve and Mary My black Labrador Retriever shines with health and is the star of this calendar. I take great care of my dog but when I began VITAL VITIES I saw an incredible difference. There must be something very healthy going on inside to have such an effect. We all thank you. Mark 36 September - October 2013 K9 FUNDAMENTALS A SOLID FOUNDATION IS EVERYTHING 10 K9 FOUNDATION FOUNDATION IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL DOGS TO SUPPORT NORMAL HEALTH AND VITALITY. FOOD SOURCES FOR ALL OF US HUMAN HORSE AND DOG ALIKE HAVE DECLINED IN RICHNESS AND DIVERSITY SO THERE IS A NEED TO REPLACE BASIC VITAL NUTRIENTS WITH A QUALITY WELLROUNDED FOUNDATIONAL PRODUCT. 10 FOUNDATION DOES JUST THIS FOR DOGS AND IS THE BASE UPON WHICH ALL SILVER LINING CANINE FORMULAS ARE BUILT. IN OTHER WORDS ALWAYS USE 10 FOUNDATION AND IF YOUR DOG NEEDS HELP WITH SPECIFIC ISSUES ADD THE OTHER FORMULAS AS REQUIRED. THE EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE IS 20 KEEP COOL WHICH WILL BE MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN USED ALONE. SILVER LINING HERBS NATURAL BALANCE & ENHANCEMENTS FOR PETS 866.543.6956 SILVER LINING HERBS.COM Rabies Miasm What every pet owner should know By Michael Dym VMD A 38 ccording to immunologist and vaccine expert Dr Ronald Schultz PhD from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin the longer term aspects of vaccine reactions are not well taught in most veterinary schools. These potential reactions especially those of the rabies vaccine may occur on the mental emotional and or physical level and often don t occur until weeks or months after vaccinations are given. These changes (known as vaccinosis) may in fact be permanent in susceptible animals. September - October 2013 The traditional veterinary community has long recognized that vaccination reactions do occur however the common belief is that such reactions are rare and mostly not severe. It s mistakenly believed that any reactions that do occur will happen within the first several minutes after an inoculation in what immunologists would refer to as an immediate type 1 bee sting like reaction with acute swelling inflammation and pain. However delayed hypersensitivity and potential longer term clinical reactions are much more common and comprise the vast majority of vaccine reactions in our companion animals. autoantibodies that may develop during this post vaccination period. I ve seen many types of inflammatory arthritis as well as many spinal conditions including degenerative disc disease afflict many recently rabies vaccinated animals. Disturbed heart function may also be seen and may ultimately result in degenerative heart valve disease or cardiomyopathy. Behavioral Symptoms The most disturbing reactions seen in veterinary patients after rabies vaccination occur at the level of the brain resulting in serious physical mental and emotional changes in the patients. A common symptom of rabies includes the swallowing of wood stones and inedibles which may also be seen as foreign body ingestion in vaccinated pets. Various types of throat spasms as well as convulsions may also be seen. Behavioral changes and fears of all types may occur including difficulty in restraining or controlling animals desire to wander or escape as well as the various types of aggression seen in the veterinary behavioral clinic. What Is Rabies Miasm According to immunologist and vaccine expert Dr Ronald Schultz PhD from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin the longer term aspects of vaccine reactions are not well taught in most veterinary schools. These potential reactions especially those of the rabies vaccine may occur on the mental emotional and or physical level and often don t occur until weeks or months after vaccinations are given. These changes (known as vaccinosis) may in fact be permanent in susceptible animals unless they are successfully treated with constitutional homeopathic remedies. Because veterinary homeopaths observe these changes so often in dogs and cats they use the term rabies miasm to describe these long lasting symptoms that are commonly seen in their patients. Many of these chronic changes have also been documented to occur in the natural disease of rabies. Physical Symptoms On a physical level rabies vaccination can lead to autoimmune hormonal diseases joint and spinal cord problems as well as chronic conjunctivitis and diarrhea often appearing within weeks to months of rabies vaccination. Post rabies vaccination lumps including malignant fibrosarcomas in both dogs and cats may also occur. The pancreas and thyroid gland are especially vulnerable to vaccinosis which may result in diabetes hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism. Dogs who have been recently vaccinated with the rabies vaccine cannot even have their thyroid function accurately assessed within 45 days of the shot because of a high incidence of thyroglobulin While many lay homeopaths will automatically use Lyssin to prevent and treat potential rabies vaccinosis there are many other homeopathic remedies that may be more appropriate depending upon the unique symptoms of each case. Some of these remedies include Lachesis Belladona Hyoscyamus Stramonium Mercurius Apis Cuprum Arsenicum album and Phosphorus to name a few. The development of unpredictable fears including fears of water noises bright objects or reflections as well as fears of being alone are all possible. I m convinced that many of the cases of separation anxiety leading to increased defecation urination DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 39 and destruction when pets are left alone are the result of the effects of rabies vaccination in susceptible animals. An example of vaccine induced behavior is destructiveness of bedding or blankets. Some dogs if left alone with bedding will completely shred it into tiny pieces. The central thread of these reactions is a loss of control of impulses in the patient. Another common symptom of rabies miasm especially in neutered or spayed animals is the development of excessive sexual desire and mounting which has been actually documented to occur in the natural disease of rabies. Excited and jerky breathing including the development of reverse sneezing has also been considered by veterinary homeopaths to be evidence of rabies vaccinosis. As mentioned above these symptom changes are permanent in many cases unless treated with appropriate homeopathic remedies. owner reported to me that he had become very fearful especially of noises or sudden movements as well as becoming very timid and startling easily after his rabies vaccination several weeks earlier. The homeopathic remedy Lyssin was given and Casey was started on omega blue-green algae a supplement that helps with temperament problems in pets. Only nine days later the symptoms had completely resolved despite being present for almost two months. While many lay homeopaths will automatically use Lyssin to prevent and treat potential rabies vaccinosis there are many other homeopathic remedies that may be more appropriate depending on the unique symptoms of each case. Some of these remedies include Lachesis Belladona Hyoscyamus Stramonium Mercurius Apis Cuprum Arsenicum album and Phosphorus to name a few. If you suspect your pet is suffering from rabies miasm it s important to consult with a trained veterinary homeopath when treating these difficult cases. While rabies vaccination is typically required every three years by law in most states there are some exciting options that may become available in the near future. For example some states will allow sufficient rabies antibody titer levels in lieu of rabies vaccination. These are available at Kansas State University. In other states medical exemptions may be written by licensed veterinarians excusing geriatric pets or those with chronic illness from rabies vaccination. Finally there is exciting research that is almost completed which will hopefully document the fact that immunity to rabies vaccination lasts for at least five to seven years. I would encourage everyone to support this work and give to the rabies challenge fund www.rabieschallengefund.org. With your support we can hopefully extend the required rabies vaccination intervals and reduce the incidence of rabies miasm. Dr Michael Dym graduated with a VMD from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Dym has been studying classical homeopathy since 1997 and has continued his training and education with Dr Richard Pitcarin DVM PhD because of his passion to enhance the health of companion animals. He lives and practices in West Palm Beach Florida where he offers both house call and phone consultations to animal guardians. nationwide. Treatment Options A Case Study Casey Knecht was a two year old male shepherd mix who presented recently for behavioral changes after rabies vaccination. His REACH OVER 16 500 PET-SAVVY VISITORS IN JUST 3 DAYS April 18th 20th 2014 International Centre Be a part of Canada s largest consumer pet show with a marketing campaign reaching 11 million consumers in the GTA. Educate. Experience. Explore. Entertain. BOOK EXHIBIT SPACE NOW & SAVE Some Show Features Wellness Centre Grooming Showcase Ontario s Mane Event info allaboutpetsshow.com 1.877.340.7387 905.335.8886 www.allaboutpetsshow.com Industry Partners Media Partners 40 September - October 2013 10 minute trainer Grrrr Food Bowl Exercises For Resource Guarding Does your dog protect his food bowl like every meal is his last Does he become Cujo if you happen between him and his bowl There s much you can do to make meal time a lot calmer - and safer - for everyone in the household. It s important to first understand that resource guarding is a natural behavior in dogs. Dogs in the wild go to a lot of trouble to find food and it s no wonder that guarding that food is hard-wired into them. A dog who guards his food is not a dominant or aggressive dog. One of the rules in the dog kingdom is that possession is nine tenths of the law. Any dog regardless of rank is entitled to any object or food in his possession until he s done with it. This is the principle most dogs operate on until we teach them otherwise. So here is a simple program you can use to teach your dog that he doesn t have to guard his dinner. place something really really yummy in it then immediately give it back to him. Of course make sure he is showing no signs of guarding before you do this If he is simply move back a few steps until he feels better about you hanging around his food bowl. Once your dog understands that you re not going to fight him for his dinner repeat this exercise periodically to refresh his memory. With a little planning and patience you can teach your dog that he doesn t need to feel threatened by anyone approaching his food bowl. In fact he ll look forward to you picking up his bowl as he knows he ll get those yummy bonus snacks every now and again Signs of Guarding Really fast eating Freezing when somebody approaches his bowl Glassy or hard eyes Growling Lip lifting Snapping Biting Rehabilitation Exercises Put an empty bowl down at meal time. Approach your dog and drop a few pieces of food into his bowl then walk away. Keep doing this for his entire meal. If your dog stiffens up or growls during the food drops just tell him too bad and walk away. Meal time is over. You ll want to feed his next two or three meals this way. After a few drop and dine meals you can then start to increase the amount of food you drop into his bowl and gradually decrease the amount of time between your bowl approaches. Eventually if all goes well you can decrease the time enough so you re refilling his bowl while he s still eating. Once you ve gotten to the point where you can give your dog his meal in two or three large installments without any signs of guarding then you can move to the final step. When your dog sees you approaching his food bowl as a good thing and doesn t display any of the above signs of guarding you can start giving him surprise bonuses. Approach his bowl as normal and this time you can pick the bowl up while he s eating DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 41 The VITAL Force By Ronna Kabler DVM Photo Marcie DeWolf 42 September - October 2013 T here is an energetic component in all living organisms that orchestrates the individual s life functions including growth maintenance of normal functions and repair. This intelligent energetic force has been recognized in most cultures and healing systems for centuries. This energy has many names chi or qi to the Chinese prana to the Hindus and vital or life force to the Western world. Many holistic treatments influence this energetic or life force to stimulate healing. Acupuncture helps to unblock channels so that the chi can flow through the body s meridians homeopathy impacts directly on the vital force to muster its healing forces in the body. The energetic force responsible for life can be explained with this principle from the field of physics energy precedes matter. In order to understand how the vital force is influenced by disease we first have to understand what disease is. Disease is first and foremost a disturbance or mistunement of the life force. Through the expression of symptoms the vital force attempts to expel disease from the body and restore health. Healing strategies of the vital force include localization such as an abscess or tumor and discharging such as vomiting diarrhea coughing skin eruptions ear eye or respiratory discharges. The life force always tries to place the disease in less vital organs (such as the skin) and away from the more vital organs such as the brain and heart. Cure often follows a natural progression in the body from inside to outside (i.e. from more vital organs to less vital organs) from top to bottom and from front to back. Symptoms that are expressed in the individual over time are often related to one disease or mistunement of the life force not to a series of unrelated events. Infectious disease and injuries are the exception however the response of the individual to the infectious agent or injury is unique to him and depends on his individual susceptibility and strength of his vital force. The symptoms are only the expression of the disease and not the disease itself. The disease itself is often much bigger than the symptoms. For example a chronic ear infection is one symptom of an underlying mistunement not just an isolated problem with the ear. It s essential to understand this principle when seeking a cure for the patient. The homeopathic practitioner recognizes the fact that the presenting set of symptoms may only represent the tip of the iceberg of the animal s disease. The homeopath must have a thorough understanding of the vital force before attempting to restore health to her patients. The homeopath understands that all disease begins at the energetic level not the material level as the modern day allopathic medical model presumes. The homeopath must accurately interpret the strength of an individual s vital force. The strength of the vital or life force is dependent on numerous factors. The young animal possesses a strong life force unless already encumbered with overwhelming genetic disease or otherwise weakened. The young animal will exhibit intense and often violent symptoms very high fevers extreme vomiting explosive diarrhea violent skin eruptions. He will often recover quickly and uneventfully and may even be stronger after the symptoms have passed. An individual weakened through age chronic disease and or other adverse events may suffer from symptoms that appear milder but they persist and weaken the patient. We all know people who are forced to their sickbed with a relatively minor ailment. Often the final result of the compromised life force is the development of cancer. These cancers may go undetected in our beloved old dogs if the vital force is too weak to manifest symptoms. The most important role of the life force is the growth and maintenance of the healthy organism but it sometimes fails to expel disease despite its valiant efforts. Sometimes the life force needs the help of homeopathy. Homeopathy though viewed as mysterious and magical works on the natural principles of nature that a stronger similar disease will replace and extinguish a weaker similar disease at the level of the life force. Homeopathic medicines create an artificial medicinal disease that if similar and stronger will displace the natural disease that has taken hold of the life force. This is one of the basic premises of homeopathy. Unfortunately our modern medical system has abandoned homeopathy and embraced allopathy which doesn t recognize these essential concepts of health and disease. Our conventional medical system doesn t acknowledge the notion of an energetic life principle. Instead allopathic or conventional medicine is based on a materialistic philosophy which views the individual as a combination of chemical and mechanical processes. Conventional medicine uses treatments that by suppressing symptoms counteract the ability of the individual s life force to heal as nature intended. In the next article - the concepts of cure - I ll discuss palliation and suppression illustrated by case studies. Ronna Kabler graduated from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr Kabler completed Dr Pitcairn s Advanced Course in Veterinary Homeopathy and is currently studying to obtain her certification in Veterinary Homeopathy. Dr Kabler started Waggin Tails Veterinary Services a mobile practice that serves many clients in Massachusetts. DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 43 We (well actually our dogs) love this beef jerky made by Tumbleweed and Eddie s from USDA antibiotic free beef. The jerky is made in small batches to ensure freshness and contains no salty broths or other additives just beef packed with natural vitamins and protein. Available online at store.dogsnaturallymagazine.com The name says it all - Nothing Added s Dehydrated Chicken Breast treats are free from preservatives or other additives and contain only one ingredient just 100% Canadian human grade white chicken meat and never irradiated Use coupon code DNM2013 to save 10% on web orders (Canadian shipping only) at www.NothingAdded.ca BIXBI s 100% USA sourced functional jerky treats provide the safety and quality your dog deserves. Made from human grade whole muscle meat BIXBI s functional jerky treats provide protein-rich nutrition without added preservatives fillers or grains. Look for Hip and Joint Skin and Coat and Daily Essentials in multiple proteins. www.bixbipet.com Many of you have cats and Bravo caters to felines special needs Healthy Medleys treats with chicken and turkey include liver gizzard and heart delivering vitamins A and B12 (particularly important to aging cats) selenium and iron. Try Seafood Medley too - morsels of salmon cod and tiny shrimp See inside front cover for a 3 coupon for any Bravo treat item. Premium nutrition in a crave-able treat Packed with probiotics and nutrients Steve s Raw Goat Milk Yogurt can be fed as a snack or a food topper to add raw nutrition to a dry or canned meal. It s an immune booster and digestive aid with the carrier enzymes that allow for better nutrient assimilation. Find a retailer at www.stevesrealfood.com GOOD EATS Delicious and nutritious snacks and foods for your four legged family member September - October 2013 44 Vital Essentials the raw pet food company known for Alpha Prey and Wildcat diets is introducing a new unique protein to their raw frozen food lineup - Wild Boar It s higher in protein and leaner than beef. Let your dog go hog wild. Ours did and loved every bite Find a retailer at www.vitalessentialsraw.com OC Raw Dog s synthetic free diets are made from whole raw premium quality human grade ingredients all USA sourced plus lamb and goat from New Zealand Australia. A significant portion of the formulation comes from premium muscle cuts like turkey drumsticks (rather than backs trim cages) offering better nutrition from higher quality protein. Visit www.ocrawdog.com to find a retailer. Dogs love DogStars Now available in a new Lamb formula Savvy Beast s 100% organic DogStars treats are made with chia flour and are gluten and wheat free. Chia is a superfood packed with protein Omega-3 s and antioxidants with more calcium than whole milk more iron than raw spinach and more magnesium than broccoli Purchase at www.savvybeasttreats.com Like all Raw Bistro s meats the beef liver in these snacks is from grass fed animals sourced from local or regional producers who practice humane and environmentally sound farming. Flaxseed is added to promote a healthy heart skin and coat. The treats are gluten free with no added salt sugar or preservatives. Learn more at www.rawbistro.com Less is More Bonus Bites by Bravo are all meat with no artificial ingredients. Choose from freeze dried Chicken Liver Chicken Breast Turkey Liver Turkey Hearts Buffalo Liver Venison Liver Salmon Cod Trail Mix or Hot Dog dry roasted Chicken Breast Strips Turkey Breast Strips Buffalo Liver Venison Liver Duck Feet. See inside front cover for 3 coupon for any Bravo item. The highly nutritious SURGE Power Bars by Momentum Carnivore Nutrition fuel your dog with high protein to increase muscle tone and stamina. Perfect for working dogs or any dog who needs a protein boost. 100% human grade American made with meat from USDA inspected facilities. Available in Turkey Duck Chicken Rabbit and Beef formulas. Order online at www.momentumcn.com DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 45 Rabies Vaccination and disease aggravation By Amy Nesselrodt DVM Without doubt this was the hardest article I ve ever written. That s because I m about to tell you why I a veterinarian believe I hastened the death of my own dog. I share this in the hope that if at least one other dog is helped by my painful lesson then Charlie s death wasn t in vain. 46 September - October 2013 Charlie was born in a puppy mill in a pen with several adult males and females. Infested with fleas and internal parasites last to eat from the communal bowl of dog chow bullied by adult collies crowded in the same pen Charlie was six months old and pitiful when I first met him. I intended only to remove Charlie from this bad situation and find him a good home - but Charlie had his own plans and so he stayed. Suffice it to say Charlie was the oddest dog I ve ever owned but also the one dog who always comforted me when I was crying. When Charlie died I was alone with my tears. As a conventionally trained veterinarian I had started to take an interest in holistic medicine around the time Charlie arrived and I was considering switching my dogs to raw feeding. Charlie suffered from chronic intermittent colitis and poor body condition and I hoped that a raw food diet would help him turn around. In June 2011 I decided to partner with Answers raw pet food to start a raw feeding trial with my dogs. As part of the trial I ran complete blood and urine tests on my dogs before changing their diet. When the results were returned I was stunned to learn Charlie had protein-losing nephropathy or PLN. In brief this meant Charlie s kidneys were leaking protein. PLN is the result of damage to the glomeruli the filtration system for the kidneys. Seven reasons why a raw diet can help dogs with kidney disease 1. Many side effects of PLN are caused by ca- tabolism (destructive breakdown of the body) weight loss and poor appetite. Making sure an affected dog gets enough to eat is essential. Many dogs don t like prescription kidney diets and quit eating. 2. High quality protein which is abundant in raw dog food is necessary for numerous functions in the body including the formation of new red blood cells and proper immune function. 3. Diets for dogs with kidney disease must have this case reminds us about the immunostimulating effects of vaccines - vaccines can and do aggravate existing disease states and uncover latent predispositions. You were correctly worried about the possibility of this very strong immunestimulating vaccine that contains potent adjuvants to adversely affect your dog PLN although inherited in some breeds is also caused by the body s response to an infection (for example Lyme disease or leptospirosis) or by chronic antigenic stimulation and immune complex formation (often associated with allergic food responses or immune-related issues caused by vaccination). These antigen antibody complexes can damage the fragile basement membranes of the kidney glomeruli in essence punching holes in them. As the kidneys leak protein (mostly albumin) it becomes a vicious cycle with the protein causing further damage to the kidneys. Initially PLN is outwardly silent - dogs don t show any obvious clinical signs - but the disease is progressive in most dogs. Eventually affected dogs develop severe weight loss high blood pressure and ultimately kidney failure. PLN dogs may develop edema (fluid leaking into the tissues) and may eventually throw clots that can cause paralysis or death. It s an ugly disease. Most conventional vets recommend a carbohydrate laden prescription kidney diet in cases of PLN. Despite warnings from my veterinary colleagues not to feed Charlie raw I believed the advantages of a raw diet would help Charlie. So we went ahead and included Charlie in the raw feeding trial. the correct ratio of protein to fat to avoid stress on the kidneys. Protein in excess of what the body needs for normal tissue support will be stored for energy. In order to do this the body must convert it to either glycogen or fat by removing the nitrogen from the protein s building blocks amino acids. Nitrogen is converted to a form that can be secreted by the kidneys. This is not typically a problem for normal functioning kidneys but for diseased kidneys it becomes a problem. 4. Quality protein supports albumin which main- tains osmotic pressure in the blood and has a role in coagulation including preventing platelet clumping. Clots from clumped platelets are a hallmark of kidney disease. Albumin has many other important functions. A low serum albumin concentration in critical illness is associated with a poor outcome. 5. Raw food contains a lot of moisture for good hydration which is critical with kidney disease. 6. By avoiding kibble the chronic antigenic stimu- lation of grain mites preservatives and other toxins is eliminated. 7. The stress of a high glycemic diet is avoided. DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 47 Charlie thrived on his raw diet. He gained weight going from 63 pounds to 71 pounds in a year. Some progression was also unexpectedly found in his urine protein levels. Things were going quite well for Charlie and the feeding trial appeared to be a success. In March 2013 Charlie was due for his rabies vaccination. If a veterinary colleague had consulted me about boosting a dog like Charlie my reply would have been do not vaccinate that dog First of all the label says for vaccination of healthy dogs and a dog with PLN is certainly not healthy. Secondly autoantibody complexes form after vaccination which could aggravate his disease. I struggled with the decision however. I live in a rabies endemic area I have children and a professional position that makes it difficult for me to ignore the law. For weeks the vaccine sat in my refrigerator - but I ultimately gave in to my fears grabbed the vial and vaccinated Charlie. One month later on Charlie s eighth birthday he was slightly thin but acting vibrant. Two weeks later Charlie s appetite began to suffer. Within days Charlie refused to eat altogether and started vomiting. His lab tests showed he was in renal failure and his urine protein level was three times higher than the last check. For a short time I was able to stop the vomiting but Charlie soon began vomiting and refusing food once more. Even IV fluids didn t help. At that point I knew there was no hope for Charlie. He had lost ten pounds in the last two weeks and Charlie was suffering - and it would only get worse. A week later we said goodbye to Charlie. I was left with an emptiness and the feeling that I had hastened Charlie s demise by vaccinating him. I only wanted to do the right thing but it turned out to be very much the wrong thing. Later I wrote to Dr Jean Dodds a veterinarian I highly respect and one of the first to publicly express concern about over vaccination. I asked her if she agreed that the rabies vaccine could have made Charlie s PLN acutely worse and I asked an important question could the vaccine have hastened his death Dr Dodds replied It certainly looks so - this case reminds us about the immunostimulating effects of vaccines - vaccines can and do aggravate existing disease states and uncover latent predispositions. You were correctly worried about the possibility of this very strong immune-stimulating vaccine that contains potent adjuvants to adversely affect your dog with PLN. Two months after Charlie s death my state began allowing waivers in lieu of rabies vaccination. I hope my story will help veterinarians think carefully before administering booster vaccines to dogs with pre-existing illness. Fortunately many other states now allow waivers for unhealthy dogs. Any medical decision carries both risk and benefit and vaccination isn t an exception. Sometimes the risk isn t worth the perceived benefit. Dr Amy Nesselrodt is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. She is licensed to practice veterinary medicine in Pennsylvania where she resides with her husband two children and five dogs. Visit Amy at DrAmyRawDogFoodResearch.com 48 September - October 2013 that could be in your pet s food Heterocyclic amines HIDDEN Ingredients (Harmful ingredients can t always be found on the label) Aflatoxins Grains such as corn wheat and rice as well as nuts and legumes are often contaminated with molds. These molds can easily grow and produce aflatoxins a very potent carcinogen. Exposure to these toxins even at low doses can wreak havoc on your dog s system causing anemia liver or kidney failure cancer and premature death. Even if your kibble is grain free it still contains a high carbohydrate content so there is the potential for mold spores to contaminate the kibble during storage especially if it s exposed to a moist environment. Mutagenic cancer causing substances such as heterocyclic amines are the result of cooking meat and fish. A 2003 study that sampled 25 cooked store bought pet foods showed that all but one tested positive in their mutagenic test and another 13 of these same samples contained heterocyclic amines. PBDEs Although further studies are needed to determine if there is a direct toxicological effect from PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) it s still alarming that these chemicals most commonly used as flame retardants in many household products are contained in many commercial pet foods. A recently published study in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology revealed that the average blood concentration of these PBDEs was as much as 10 times higher in tested dogs than in humans. The researchers also found the presence of PBDEs in dog food samples are at higher levels than in meats sold for human consumption. These PBDEs may be a result of processing rather than derived from the food source itself. Acrylamides Both the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and WHO (World Health Organization) have classified acrylamide as a probable carcinogen. Acrylamides are formed due to the high temperature heat applied to vegetable foods more specifically a reaction between the amino acid asparagine and the simple sugars found in these foods. Whether that food is fried baked roasted or extruded these substances have been measured at many levels and in some studies at significantly high levels. Factors that contribute to acrylamide formation are the lack of remaining moisture in the product and the surface area. These two attributes are found in every type of kibble which are all low in moisture (most kibble is less than 10% moisture) and formed into small bite size pieces (large surface area). Heat Processing The high temperature processing that pet foods undergo destroys important nutrients. Many amino acids which are key components of proteins such as taurine and carnitine are diminished by processing. Vitamins and food enzymes are also destroyed. Most importantly there are thousands of chemicals in food that may have important effects on the body but aren t yet officially recognized as nutrients. These too are often destroyed by processing. With thanks to Roxanne Stone MSc and Dr Doug Knueven DVM Chinese Ingredients At first glance it might appear that vitamins and minerals in your pet s food are a good thing. But those added nutrients (commonly seen as chemical names like copper proteinate or vitamin D) are nearly all made in China. These vitamin premixes were the cause of the massive pet food recalls in 2009 that killed and harmed thousands of cats and dogs. DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 49 Could Do Better By Catherine O Driscoll W 50 September - October 2013 hilst seeking to expose the scandal of over vaccination I ve always tried not to bad mouth the veterinary profession. Vets after all are people. And I believe that people generally do the best they can with the knowledge they have available to them. However isn t it time the profession got up to date with the science Some vets are vaccinating annually against core diseases and coming up with all sorts of bizarre reasons to defend what can only be regarded as quackery. Am I wrong to say this Personally I have difficulty understanding how the profession has stood silently by while its members continue to push annual revaccination schedules for the core vaccines - vaccines that aren t even needed and might ultimately cause severe adverse effects. A friend recently asked me to comment on remarks made by a vet on an internet discussion group. This vet was explaining to the members of the dog breed group that the WSAVA recommends giving puppies their last puppy shots at 14 to 16 weeks because they have to take account of the incidence of disease worldwide. In the States and Australia he said they still have outbreaks of parvo and distemper hence the recommendation for follow up vaccinations at 16 weeks of age . He went on to say that My latest litter was vaccinated at 6 and 10 weeks and microchipped at 7 weeks. But then what do I know I m just a vet Indeed what does he know He is just a vet Professor Ronald Schultz a member of the WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines Group says Our new grads don t know a heck of a lot more about vaccines than our older grads. And I ve figured out why this is. They know a lot more about basic immunology but they don t know about vaccinology and the two are not the same. Also they re taught by people generally that know nothing about vaccinology. Now when do they get their vaccine training During their fourth year. And who s giving that The veterinarians that know how to give vaccines that still don t know about vaccinology. So we haven t gone very far from where we were ten years ago or twenty years ago with regard to training veterinarians about vaccines . The problem is that vets on a basic and fundamental level could have a better grip on vaccine science. And yet they persist in giving advice on the matter and ultimately profiting from it. Having shamelessly worn the I m a vet badge of honor to justify sharing inaccurate information to dog lovers on the internet he then went onto say that Yes vaccines cause side effects but the alternative is worse. Really Parvo is worse than dying of cancer or leukemia or autoimmune hemolytic anemia all scientifically proven vaccine sequelae Or perhaps a lifetime of vaccine induced arthritis or epilepsy or behavioral problems from encephalitis is preferable to contracting a viral disease Surely death is death and suffering is suffering And is it worse to die of a natural disease or of an illness caused by a professional who we would like to be able to trust If any other person intentionally kills a dog he would be prosecuted. But if a professional gives a vaccine that isn t needed and kills the dog nobody seems to notice or care. The profession justifies its own negligent and fraudulent over-vaccination advice by minimizing the very real problem of adverse effects from vaccines vaccines that are often unnecessary and unsafe. Another vet emailed me asking if she could come along and put the balanced view at an evening talk I was giving. The talk was being hosted by people who share my own desire to educate fellow dog lovers regarding canine vaccination. Initially I thought well yes I m prepared to share the stage with a vet and hear what they have to say and I m also well researched enough to be able to gently counteract any misinformation. This particular vet is it seemed was quite a good one. She offers titer testing instead of blind annual shots for one thing. However she reckoned that annual leptospirosis shots were necessary in her area since she had dealt with two cases of lepto in the last year. One was a farm dog and the other was a farm dog whose six week old puppies died of lepto. What are vets required to do to stay current on vaccinology They I wrote back to her explaining that the lepto vaccine doesn t stop have to amass points to prove that they ve undertaken some form shedding and so even if the bitch had been vaccinated (and even if of education. However these points are available to any vet who the vaccine matched the strain of lepto in that particular environattends what Dr Patricia Jordan calls a dinner of misinformation MSRP 54.99 ment) it would be unlikely to protect six week old puppies. I added put on by the Renewable very pharmaceutical companies who also have Renewable a resource MRP 49.99 resource financial interest in how many vaccines companion animals receive. that whilst tragic these two cases hardly represented an epidemic (lepto is quite specific to the farm environment) and that WSAVA What our internet vet should have known and been able to share guidelines say that in the case of lepto Vaccination should be is that WSAVA recommendations regarding the last puppy shot restricted to use in geographical areas where a significant risk of exrefer rather to the fact that maternal immunity can interfere with posure has been established or for dogs whose lifestyle places them the vaccine before 14 to 16 weeks. Maternal immunity for parvo100% at significant risk . 100% virus for example can last as long as three to four months. If you Recyclable Recyclable In scientific language use of the word significant is quite notevaccinate a puppy who is still covered by maternal immunity it worthy. It s a strong word rarely used. Two farm based incidences can block the vaccine. The pup will remain unprotected until he is in one year hardly constitute a good reason to vaccinate every dog revaccinated (usually at 12 months) or until he meets parvo in the in the area against leptospirosis especially when this vaccine is environment and hopefully survives it. NEW & IMPROVED RAW SUPPORT Renewable NEW & IMPROVED Omega 3 s 6 s & 9 s for immune and cardiovascular support 100% Vitamins minerals & amino acids inResource form to increase bio-availability whole food Recyclable Natural anti-inflammatory & gastro-protective factors Glycosaminoglycans to assist in connective tissue & joint support 100% pure sustainably grown additive free... a truly naked food Our packaging is eco-friendly utilizing recyclable compostable and renewable resources Our packaging is eco-friendly utilizing recyclable compostable and renewable resources naturallynakedpetproducts.com DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 51 known to be the one that provokes the most severe adverse reactions. I explained to this vet that I don t vaccinate at all and that I do not advocate under any circumstances the lepto vaccine. I added that I believe that people have a right to informed consent and that it is nobody s place to tell others what they must do hence my willingness to share the platform. Additionally I sent her papers and articles explaining why the leptospirosis vaccine is of questionable value. She emailed back saying Good. So long as we are on the same page regarding the need for core vaccines and leptospirosis ... I would like to give a Powerpoint presentation. Huh The only way she could think herself to be on the same page as me would be if she hadn t read anything I had sent her. Then she went on to say There is a conflict here between the WSAVA guidelines and our legal responsibilities to abide by data sheets. At which point I saw red. What she meant by this is that although the core vaccines have been shown to provide immunity that is potentially lifelong the licensing authorities have only asked for proof of efficacy for one or three to four years. Therefore vets are saying they have to revaccinate in accordance with the data sheets. I spent ages attempting to draft a reply that was neither rude nor offensive. I don t think I succeeded but surely vets have a duty to give a damn about the animals in their care I am trying not to reply to you with a tirade I said but where did you get the idea we are on the same page with regard to core vaccines and lepto Also you have no idea how angry I get when vets hide behind the legal responsibilities of the data sheets. You also have a moral responsibility to the lives of your patients. The WSAVA has actually said that the data sheets can be ignored since they are only a reflection of licensing requirements. Ergo any vet that adheres to the known science rather than the data sheets has the support of the WSAVA of which the silent BSAVA (British Small Animal Veterinary Association) is a member. On this basis alone and bearing in mind that vets have the opportunity to lie to their clients about vaccines every time they walk into a practice I am withdrawing your opportunity to put the veterinary view on a public stage at a seminar organized by dog lovers who are tired of being deceived by the veterinary profession to the detriment of their beloved pets. You are of course welcome to attend as a member of the audience and at the appropriate time raise any questions providing the hosts are comfortable about this. I am sorry about this but the fact is that the vast majority of dogs and cats do not need to be vaccinated every year or every three years against the core diseases and the majority of vets are acting as though it hardly matters when animals are killed or suffer as a result of this fraud. It is shameful absolutely shameful. The profession was alerted to the science in 1978 35 years ago that immunity to the core diseases persists for years or life. And the WSAVA and other professional bodies have not alerted the world to over vaccination merely because we are paying for something that isn t needed. They have spoken out because of the carnage that is being caused by over vaccination. If the profession had acted ethically and was not supported by a corrupt governance then there would be no need for pet owners to organize an evening talk in the first place . More than anything I didn t want people to turn up to an evening talk in order to witness an argument and I didn t want to shame this vet in public. I haven t had a reply. It is interesting to note what the word ignorance implies the act of ignoring. There is something seriously wrong with many members of the veterinary profession. It appears that they don t want to know about anything that might threaten their booster income. They typically don t want to know about diet herbs acupuncture homeopathy ... or anything that isn t based on drugs or surgery. They don t seem to want to know if an alternative therapy has had a positive or miraculous effect. I think they just don t want to know. I have to admit I feel so sorry for vets in this day and age. They have been spiritually shut down by the machine. Does the conventional veterinary profession even have a future on this basis Catherine O Driscoll has formed the Pet Parents Action Group to bring together animal advocates and pet owners from around the world. Working together in strength the group is taking practical action to counteract the massive marketing might of the veterinary pharmaceutical and pet food industries. Please add your name to the supporters list www.petparentsactiongroup.org 52 September - October 2013 ENTER TO WIN giveaways Every two weeks we re giving away a great new prize. This issue features an all food Giveaway and a great opportunity for your dog to try some wonderful new goodies Go to www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com giveaways to enter. Gain additional entries for sharing liking and tweeting on Facebook and Twitter. No purchase necessary. September 1st to 15th Smokey Toes Win a bountiful basket of Smokey Toes products including two boxes of Joint Care Flavor Packs plus smoked chicken feet smoked rabbit and goose jerky treats with bonus sulfatefree conditioning shampoo and holistic insect repellent. Smokey Toes joint supplements offer proven results and your dog will love these unique treats Approximate value 150. www.smokeytoes.com September 16th to 30th Momentum Carnivore Nutrition Momentum Carnivore Nutrition makes an enormous range of fabulous freeze dried meat products and this is your dog s chance to win an assorted bundle of delicious snacks including Chicken Nibblets Turkey Hearts Turkey Breast and their famous SURGE Beef Power Bars and SURGE Chicken Power Bars for active dogs Retail value approximately 150. www.momentumcn.com October 1st to 15th Northwest Naturals Win one of nine food or treat prizes from Northwest Naturals - all the benefits of raw diets and treats in a convenient freeze dried formula First prize a case of freeze dried nuggets containing two beef one chicken one lamb plus a case of freeze dried treats. Approximate value 128. Eight runners up each receive a bag of beef liver treats approximate value 10 each. www.northwestnaturals.com October 16th to 31st Stella and Chewy s If your dog has never tried Stella and Chewy s now s the time They are offering five lucky winners a Stella & Chewy s Sampler which includes a bag of Stella s Super BeefTM Dinner a bag of Carnivore CrunchTM treats in Chicken and also a container of Carnivore Kisses in Salmon. Grass fed beef cage free chicken and wild caught salmon Retail value 35 per sampler. www.stellaandchewys.com No purchase necessary to enter or win. Each giveaway ends at 11 59pm EST. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received. Winners will be contacted by email. Contest open to US and Canadian residents 18 years of age or older on the date of entry. Void where prohibited by law. Complete contest rules and regulations can be found at www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com giveaways. DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 53 EE SID Want We TS FEC F M 54 y dog was itching non stop waking me up at night even and I got tired of the options from my regular vet so I decided to take Blue to the homeopathic vet instead. He asked me so many questions What does he care if Blue burps when all I want fixed is this horrible itch Ah welcome to homeopathy where the only way we get success is by treating the whole patient. September - October 2013 The Whole Patient Who Cares Ummm (low whisper) the residue. I see. And are they stinkier than you d expect dog stool to be Or than your other dogs stools smell You know I ve hired you for Blue s itchy skin right Yes yes that s why I m here but if you could just tell me more about his stools and a few other things about him I can do a better job of curing his itchy allergic skin. Sigh. What exactly does treating the whole dog mean And why is this important Homeopathy means literally similar suffering. Prescribing it well where the results are often not just effective but amazing ( Really That got better too ) takes knowing just who this dog is who s coming in with the itchy skin. Only by knowing all the ins and outs and characteristics of this particular dog will we be able to find the remedy that s similar to his suffering or truly homeo-(similar)-pathic (pathology or suffering). The remedy that most closely matches the whole patient with all of his burping and twitching and fear of weird looking bags of leaves that appear suddenly in his yard will be the one that unlocks his own healing ability and cures his itch. So bear with us and with all those questions. It s just part of the job ma am. The side effects will be worth it. The Whole Deal or No Deal When you bring your dog to a homeopathic vet and the reason is that something is tormenting him and your family keeping you up at night with his thumping and breathless chewing in his groin you want this fixed ASAP. Yesterday would not be too soon But here s the nub of it. Itchy skin as horribly bothersome as it is to everyone involved is simply too common a symptom to choose a proper remedy with. If you look at remedies that have this symptom there are depending on the book you look at anywhere from 135 to 332 choices that might address it. Success will only be achieved when the remedy is found that matches the totality of this itchy dog. The magic of cure can only take place when we fully paint the big picture finding the dog in there attached to this itchy skin. Anything else will be a frustrating waste of time and money. It s this way because homeopathy only cures patients when the remedy chosen is highly similar to your dog s entire suffering. Suffering Can Be Er Kind of Personal Does he hump things like stuffed animals or other dogs or you No but he licks my legs whenever I put lotion on. And he runs for the hills when my husband shouts at the football game on TV Ah yes. And how would you describe his stools If this is a telephone appointment and Blue s owner is calling from work her voice often drops at this point. Normal. Uh huh so firm logs then or more soft and they leave a residue when you pick them up Acute vs Chronic Disease DogsNaturally Store Dogs Naturally Approved Products This is easier in acute disease which you can even treat at home with a reference book and a kit of remedies and a willingness to try. In acute disease we re dealing with the sudden changes that come from accidents injuries or mistakes of judgment ( Oh I wish I hadn t eaten that whole ham that was on the back of the counter... ). As such knowing the totality of the dog pales in importance and you can focus on just what s different since this new difficulty cropped up. A recent example from my practice is Lionheart a great big Airedale who in guarding his owner s farm met his first porcupine and got a snoot full of quills. His bright owner whipped out her homeopathic emergency kit found Ledum for puncture wounds and gave him several doses. In the end the quills had to be removed under sedation but Lionheart s snout healed so completely that there was not even a sign remaining the following day that there had been any injury Herbal Formulas Homeopathic Remedies Natural Treats Eco Friendly Beds Bamboo & Hemp Collars Chinese Herbs Ayurvedic Herbs Nutritional Supplements Back to the Itch New products added weekly Itchiness is unless your dog just rolled in a prickly dock plant chronic disease by definition - it didn t come up suddenly and it won t be cured suddenly. That s where we need to dig together your homeopathic vet and you to flesh out a more complete picture of the whole dog s salient symptom picture. (You do remember these lovely things called symptoms don t you And you have your symptom diary started now right ED see the May and July issues of DNM) A great example from my patient rolls is a Boykin Spaniel named Katie who d been ferociously itchy in response to fleas. Before store.dogsnaturallymagazine.com DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 55 seeking my help Katie had been given a steroid injection and got only some days of relief before she was right back to scratching and chewing madly. The poor girl had lost most of the hair on her hindquarters smelled bad and had red crusty eruptions over many areas of her body. Two Katie was getting steadily more mobile. And her itch became briefly worse and then started to decline. Best Side Effects Ever Who s Attached to that Itchy Skin Tena Katie s diligent owner while brand new to homeopathy was a great observer and cataloguer of symptoms. Knowing we needed more than the itch we set out to uncover the rest of the picture and came up with this list of other symptoms 4 4 4 4 Sluggishness low energy sometimes hiding away and sleeping instead of playing. Katie s only four years old but acts like a 12 year old Painful walking even emitting a low growl when being picked up to bring her out to eliminate. Ravenous appetite steals food eats tissues or napkins if she gets the chance. Ears that itch - in particular the right one. Katie hates rainy cold weather or even cold wet grass to walk on. She s overweight. Anal glands have expressed themselves after licking or scooting. Fishy breath even after dental cleaning. Low thirst. Hard stools of late difficult to push out. Over the next four months with the help of her constitutional remedy Katie dropped her itchiness from a 9 on a scale of 10 to a 1 or 2. Sleeping through the night without waking to scratch and chew brought peace to everyone in the house Katie included. Katie steadily regrew hair as a result replacing the old poor quality coat with luxurious shiny hair thanks in part to her new raw diet. Bald spots and red crusty eruptions resolved. Her ears healed up after briefly discharging pus and the bothersome head shaking slowly disappeared. And here s the funny part. At first remedy time sent Katie into hiding. Now when Tena would mix her day s dose of remedy Katie came running for it It was clear that she knew this watery little squirt in her mouth was a godsend Katie s other symptoms were slowly resolving along with her itch. Among her side effects she became less ravenous lost some weight drank water more normally her fishy breath improved stools became normal and most important to Katie she felt more like playing and her joints didn t hold her back. She d become an appropriately enthusiastic youngster again engaging with toys her dog brother and her family. All of this goodness took place over four months and the Whole Katie got slowly but steadily well. Why It was purely because we took the time to find the big picture and track all of Katie s symptoms as we went along being sure that her remedy fit her whole suffering state and that whole state progressed towards cure. So let s ignore that itch for a moment. Tell me about the stools. Dr Will Falconer is a Certified Veterinary Homeopath based in Austin Texas with a global practice treating all species with the most holistic medicine ever. His latest thoughts and useful information can be found on his blog at VitalAnimal.com 4 Suspecting vaccinosis might be at work (Katie had been vaccinated yearly) and with her aversion to wet weather Katie started with a dose of Thuja 10M. She responded with less closet hiding more willingness to walk and a bit less scratching. Not much else changed so we went on to a more whole Katie remedy next Calcarea carbonica given in a daily LM potency. We evaluated Katie after she d had five doses and got a glimmer of hope One less sleeping no longer hiding in the closet. First time in a long time she began playing with toys on her own and chasing her light as her owner bounced a flashlight beam around the room. 56 September - October 2013 Happy Customers Healthy Dogs Busy Store support your local store Turn your customers into fans with Dogs Naturally Magazine Your store logo is custom imprinted right on the cover of Dogs Naturally Magazine. We ll help you to reach more customers and give them the education and support to choose healthier products for their dogs. This indispensable resource is a must have for discerning stores From left to right Shin Hye Koo Viki Bristowe Natalie Gore Blu Radha Singh (missing Jessica Ward) Bailey Blu Pet Boutique Montreal Quebec Natalie Gore had always struggled to feed her older dog Bailey who never seemed entirely satisfied with his meals. Then he stopped eating his kibble altogether. She was terrified to find herself in this situation without any real resources or guidance despite consulting with numerous vets and specialty pet food stores she found very few answers. Was it Bailey Or was it the food Natalie set out to do her own research and learned that the commercial pet food industry sold cheap overly processed food with little attention to pets specific nutritional needs. She found that the premium kibble she d been feeding for years wasn t providing Bailey with the nutrients he needed to thrive and she finally understood why Bailey was always hungry despite being overweight. After she read an article about raw feeding she started Bailey on a BARF diet and watched him experience satisfaction from his food for the first time. She realized that all along his body had been craving real meat Bailey no longer spent his days scrounging for dropped food on the kitchen floor and his weight stabilized. When nine week old Blu joined their family Natalie immediately started him on a raw diet and he has been the picture of health ever since. Natalie had a background as a manager for a retail store and had owned and operated a successful commercial photography company. She d learned the ins and outs of running a small business and was no stranger to brutally long hours. Natalie started preparing her own raw meat diets for sale and after Bailey died CONTACT US NOW TO GET YOUR SAMPLE BUNDLE sales dogsnaturallymagazine.com 877 665-1290 DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 57 she decided to open a store where she could not only sell her food alongside other carefully chosen brands of pet food but also share her own experiences and educate the public about the importance of feeding species appropriate diets. The store carries the names of Bailey the inspiration and catalyst for Natalie s research into animal nutrition and Blu who carries his legacy forward a living testament to the benefits of a healthy species appropriate diet. When Bailey Blu opened Natalie was determined to offer only the highest quality products. She wanted to develop genuine relationships with her customers and foster a reputation of providing exceptional service as well as the most accurate nutritional information available. Her months of research taught her that there was a very strong connection between grains and chronic skin problems and digestive disorders so she also made the decision to have an entirely grain free store the only one in all of Quebec. Instead of offering traditional dry convenience foods Bailey Blu s focus is on more species appropriate diets high in moisture content low in carbohydrates and minimally processed. The store offers the widest selection of canned food in the city and has been very successful with both air dried and dehydrated foods. However the biggest success has been Baily Blu s own artisanal food. The high quality human grade balanced raw meat blends are prepared in a provincially certified facility and Bailey Blu oversees every aspect of production from sourcing local ingredients to grinding and packing the blends in eco friendly compostable containers right in Montreal. And it s not all about the dogs The store has been enthusiastically marketing raw food to cat owners and the raw diets have resolved many feline health issues - eliminating diabetes without medication alleviating painful and chronic urinary issues and managing weight loss and digestive disorders. Natalie and her team of dedicated and passionate employees spend a great deal of time educating pet owners. They ll often spend more than an hour with a customer explaining everything from the specifics of carnivore physiology to how to read an ingredient label. And their efforts have been rewarded with an exponential increase in customers in the past two and a half years. It s very gratifying when after months of trying expensive vet food and harsh medications without success pet owners come to Bailey Blu for help and they happily oblige Natalie plans to open other Bailey Blu stores in the city and province and eventually outside of Quebec. But until then they are proudly serving customers across Canada through their website and online boutique. Visit www.baileyblu.com for a wide variety of natural products and a wealth of information on nutrition and wellbeing for your dog. Or if you re in Montreal stop by the store at 6152 Sherbrooke St West and do some shopping Pro BloomTM for dogs & cats shelf-stable instant goat s milk 5 Billion active probiotic cultures Milk from pasture-raised free-ranging goats Gently dehydrated to retain nutrients Mix in with The Honest Kitchen s food Human-grade and made in the USA New questions thehonestkitchen.com fb.com thehonestkitchen 866.437.9729 Want to learn more 58 September - October 2013 nutrition with lucy Coprophagia Holistic Management By Lucy Postins Disgusting as it sounds to us humans many animal species indulge in the questionable pastime of eating their own or one another s poop. Known as coprophagia the practice is seen in elephants hippos and pandas where the young consume the feces of their mothers or other members of the herd or group in order to obtain the good bacteria their intestines need to digest their food properly and absorb the nutrients from their diets. To dogs in most cases feces consumption isn t too different from any other type of normal scavenging that makes up part of their natural hard wired instinct and it s thought by many to be no more problematic than grazing on a bit of fresh spring grass. Domesticated dogs often devour manure from farm animals like cows sheep and goats as well as morsels from cat litter boxes and chicken coops and the general consensus is that it isn t always something to fret about - at least as far as our animal companions own health is concerned. Puppies frequently ingest their own or each other s feces although they usually grow out of the behavior after a few weeks and mother dogs lick their very young puppies to help encourage defecation or to help keep the nest clean. In some cases coprophagia may develop in slightly older puppies as they become more inquisitive and investigate their environment and develop initial scavenging behaviors and it can be inadvertently reinforced by owners who may chase or yell at their poop eating puppy causing the pup to associate the act with lots of owner attention. Possible Benefits of Herbivore Dung Consumption Some experts like the late Juliet de Bairacli Levy contend that consumption of dung from herbivorous animals such as cows horses and sheep may actually be beneficial for dogs and provides a rich source of good bacteria enzymes and other nutrients. The risk of course is the dog s consumption of medications or chemical dewormers with which these herbivores may have been treated or the risk of intestinal parasites as a result of eating worm laden manure. Medical Causes Of course it s important to ensure that coprophagia in a domestic dog isn t the result of something such as exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) that requires medical treatment but any underlying medical causes for the practice should be ruled out via a veterinary exam. Starvation nutritional absorption problems or other forms of malnutrition may also play a role in the development of DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 59 coprophagia. But if the animal is healthy in good physical shape free of parasites and doesn t live in a home with very young old or immune compromised people it may be okay to turn a blind eye to the occasional poop snack. Autophagy (the process of an animal consuming its own feces) is decidedly more unpleasant than say consuming horse dung and many dog owners don t want an animal who eats his own poop (or anyone else s for that matter) interacting too closely with them. Families with small children become understandably nervous about receiving kisses from an animal family member who has consumed feces of any kind because of the risks of bacterial contamination and potential illness in humans who come in contact with it. Interestingly organizations like the Delta Society who have banned the use of raw dehydrated and other minimally processed diets for their therapy dogs have not yet outlawed the practice of coprophagia in their canine members The Nutritional Element Nutritional factors may play a role in the incidence of coprophagia and although it remains a topic of debate many experts agree that dogs fed a poor quality nutritionally inadequate diet that s heavily processed or laden with fillers and indigestible ingredients may be more susceptible to picking up the poop eating habit. In many cases transitioning to a fresh whole food diet with lots of raw and real food ingredients and natural sources of good bacteria can help to ameliorate the problem. Supplementation with vitamins and minerals in the form of kelp spirulina or other nutrient rich superfoods is recommended to help address a possible mineral or other nutritional deficiency as the potential cause. Supplementation with probiotics or good bacteria and digestive enzymes is also a good idea to help improve the absorption and assimilation of the natural nutrients that are present in the dog s food. Several companies now make supplements specifically designed to discourage coprophagia causing the feces to take on a foul taste which deters dogs from consuming it. More frequent smaller meals throughout the day instead of one or two larger meals may also be helpful this can help avert the dog s urge to snack. Feeding meals in interactive dog bowls or puzzle games as well as offering raw marrow bones as snacks can also help prolong the duration of each mealtime and help keep the dog more mentally stimulated which could reduce the urge to seek a feces feast between meals. Visit us at the 2013 NAFA CanAm and the USDAA Cynosport Games Behavioral Issues Some cases of coprophagia result from a learned behavior copying or joining in with another animal who s indulging in some stool eating at the dog park for example. Coprophagia does seem to be more common in dogs who live with cats. They start off unable to resist the high protein delicacies in the litter tray and move on to other types of feces later on. The use of punishment for stool eating is not recommended as a general rule. The outdated cruel act of sticking a dog s nose in it as a form of punishment can actually reinforce and further encourage coprophagia. Some behaviorists speculate that owners who forcefully punish or reprimand their dogs for pooping in the wrong place may actually cause their dog to associate being told off with being around poop and cause the dog to begin eating his feces for fear of getting into trouble. In other instances stool eating can begin as an animal s attempt to alleviate boredom or stress from being left alone for long periods of time. Some cases of problematic coprophagia are thought to develop as a compulsive behavior due to anxiety lack of environmental stimulation or stress. Coprophagia is thought to be more prevalent in puppies who come from puppy mills or pet shops because of the lack or enrichment and barren environments in which they begin their formative weeks and months. Some begin to consume their feces because there is literally nothing else to do in confined environments that lack proper interaction with humans or other animals. In severe cases dogs may attempt to twist around and consume their feces while they are actually defecating. There are several things that can be done to manage and prevent problematic coprophagia from a holistic perspective which means understanding the causes managing the environment and utilizing behavioral modification to help combat it. Science Based Technology - Research Proven Results HELPS Reduce Recovery Time Reduce Pain Heal Soft Tissue Injury Treat Sore Muscles Reduce Arthritis Pain Increase Circulation 615.293.3025 www.CanineLightTherapy.com 60 September - October 2013 Environmental Management and Training Management of the situation begins with a prompt and thorough cleanup of the yard to remove temptation (the dog can be asked to sit and stay for a treat while the cleanup takes place). The use of a leash on walks can help prevent contact with feces that might have gone undetected. Restricting the dog s access to corrals pastures and other areas where the feces from other species is present is essential. Prompt distraction of a dog who sniffs at investigates or shows other undue interest in feces is also helpful to head off the habit before it s allowed to fully set in. The use of punishment for stool eating is not recommended as a general rule. The outdated cruel act of sticking a dog s nose in it as a form of punishment can actually reinforce and further encourage coprophagia. Some behaviorists speculate that owners who forcefully punish or reprimand their dogs for pooping in the wrong place may actually cause their dog to associate being told off with being around poop and cause the dog to begin eating his feces for fear of getting into trouble. Some pet owners do see success with the use of a water squirt bottle to deter stool eating. Others see good results with the application of hot sauce or chili powder to stools which provides a negative experience when the dog consumes them but in the time it takes to apply these seasonings it s more efficient to just pick up and remove temptation. Training of course is a vital component of the holistic approach to preventing coprophagia. Teaching the command leave it is immensely helpful not just for coprophagia but for other instances of consuming unauthorized foods counter surfing and so on. Training for leave it starts on a leash and rewards the dog with a well timed click treats and lots of praise each time he is successfully called away from the temptation which can be set up ahead of time. The leash can be used to help guide the dog away and encourage him in the direction of the handler. Once the leave it behavior has been sufficiently practiced on leash it can be attempted off leash with the handler at increasing distances as the dog begins to approach the source of temptation. As soon as the dog turns and begins to approach the handler lots of praise should be offered and the treat provided as soon as he moves to the handler. Be sure that keeping the dog from his much desired fecal treat doesn t turn into a fun game of keep away which you might risk losing if the dog gets close enough to pick up a piece of dung this can inadvertently make it an even more rewarding experience for him. Conclusion Whatever the cause of coprophagia a truly holistic multi-pronged approach to combatting it is more likely to yield success than focusing on just one factor alone. Place the emphasis on properly managing the environment addressing any nutritional factors ensuring proper social enrichment and using positive training methods. A well balanced diet plenty of exercise playtime and prompt pickup of poops are all key components. Lucy Postins is a companion animal nutritionist and founder of The Honest Kitchen a natural pet food company in San Diego CA. More nutritional resources are available on www.thehonestkitchen.com or (866) 437 9729. 120 varieties of coconut. Over a dozen ways to produce coconut oil. One winning formula. Coconut oil has been part of our family for countless years. We remember our grandmother making coconut oil in her kitchen using only the freshest coconuts from our family farm in the Philippines. For generations this versatile superfood has been a diet & first-aid staple in our family and for our pets. Inspired by our love for our pets we created CocoTherapy so your pets can experience the tremendous health benefits that we ve known for many years. CocoTherapy contains high levels of beneficial Lauric acid which makes our oil extremely effective. When your pets deserve the best trust CocoTherapy. Charisa Antigua Carmna O Connor FOUNDERS USDA Richest natural source of Medium Chain Fatty Acids ORGANIC Supports skin and coat health and reduces allergic reactions All-natural Human-grade Protects against infection antibacterial & antiviral Supports healthy immune response to foreign microbes Visit our website to see Supports healthy gastrointestinal function & nutrient absorption our complete line of Promotes healthy thyroid function and metabolism coconut products Provides antioxidant protection for healthy cell function Supports healthy brain and nervous system function Recommended by Holistic Vets and Animal Nutritionists LEARN MORE www.CocoTherapy.com 630.578.6752 DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 61 i need that Great products for happy healthy dogs Naturally Tearfree Canine Calling all white dogs This all natural blend of organic herbs removes pet tear stains. Sprinkle the herbs on your pet s food to remove stains from the inside out The powder contains no antibiotics additives or fillers. The herbs are naturally antifungal anti-inflammatory and antibacterial and can remove not only tear stains but also forearm licking stains private area stains and muzzle stains from saliva. Naturally Tearfree Canine is a patented supplement and is a must have to keep your dog looking white and beautiful again. To purchase visit www.naturallytearfreecanine.com Essential Oils for Animals by Nayana Morag This book is an excellent guide for using aromatherapy in pets. Nayana explains how to use essential oils for common problems such as separation anxiety fleas arthritis or bad breath. The book makes it simple to find the right essential oil for everyday problems. It contains details on 52 essential oils 20 hydrosols and 12 carrier oils as well as recipes for homemade all natural products. The information is practical and easyto-use so anyone can use essential oils safely and effectively to support their animals in mind body and spirit. For more information visit www.essentialanimals.com book or email nayana essentialanimals.com Smokey Toes K9 Joint Care If you struggle to get pills or powdered supplements into your dog you ll love this product. Smokey Toes K9 Joint Care Flavor Packets solve the problem - no pills or powders required This ingenious solution consists of a daily package of the supplement mixed with a chicken broth and a base of liquid amino acids. Just pour the packet onto your dog s food. The active ingredients are glucosamine chondroitin MSM hyaluronic acid Omega-3 L-glutamine and boswelia. This product has been shown to deliver results in as little as five days. Purchase at www.smokeytoes.com Pet Potion by Sacred Soapworks Pet Potion is an all natural pest remedy for pets (and humans too). This essential oil blend not only smells good it also repels fleas and mosquitoes. Spray on your pet (taking care to avoid the eyes) and on his bedding if necessary. Pet Potion has also been found to soothe hot spots and irritated skin. It s made with the finest organic ingredients available Oregon rain water castor oil essential oils that are steam distilled in each plant or tree s native country as well as Sacred Soapworks own all natural soap. Use coupon code DOGSNATURALLY for a 10% discount at www.sacredsoapworks.com Dermagic Anti Dandruff Dead Sea Salt Dermagic is well known for its all natural skin care products for animals and we predict that a few humans may be borrowing these lovely salts from their dogs This blend of Dead Sea salts and natural minerals eliminates dandruff draws toxins from the skin relieves itching and deeply exfoliates leaving both skin and coat soft and healthy. Containing organic whole leaf aloe vera vitamin E and rosemary essential oil this blend also chases fleas away and calms your pet at bath time. It can even soothe achy joints for seniors who may be a bit creaky Purchase at www.dermagic.com 62 September - October 2013 Sh-Emp Oil by Feed-sentials This nutritional oil is a blend of Atlantic herring fish oil cold pressed organic hemp oil and organic virgin coconut oil. Together these oils deliver Omega-3 (DHA EPA and linolenic acid) Omega-6 (linoleic acid) Omega-9 (oleic acid) GLA (gamma linolenic acid) plus steridonic acid chlorophyll and protein and lauric acid caprylic and capric acid medium chain fatty acids. Essential fatty acids require nutrients in the form of vitamins minerals and amino acids in order to be metabolized so Sh-Emp Oil is best used in conjunction with Feed-Sentials. Both are available at store.dogsnaturallymagazine.com Madra M r Canine Spa Treatments We were really excited to discover Madra M r and your mud loving dog will be too Their natural mud bath treatments will cleanse protect and rejuvenate your dog with no fuss. A natural blend of medicinal clays omega fatty acids and other wholesome ingredients form a cleansing conditioner that easily spreads and rinses. Massage the mud bath through your dog s coat as it absorbs dirt oils and toxins exfoliating and replacing dead skin cells with nourishing minerals and lipids leaving your dog s coat wonderfully soft. Choose from Flea Relief Mud Mobility Mud Shed Safely Mud and Soothing Mud use coupon code MMDNM913 to receive a 10% discount at www.madramormud.com or 800-975-8364. Clean Teeth by Epic Pet Health If your dog s teeth are not as healthy or white as you d like Clean Teeth might be just the supplement you re looking for It reduces dental plaque and tartar while promoting healthy teeth and gums. This easy to dose supplement (spray on food in water or directly on the teeth and gums) is odorless so pets don t mind taking it. To maintain healthy teeth use once daily for problem teeth use three times a day. Some dogs have avoided veterinary dental cleanings this way These human grade supplements contain diluted vitamins minerals and electrolytes in filtered water. Purchase at www.epicpethealth.com Athlete by Herbsmith If your dog is engaged in any kind of sporting activity or competition you ll want this product. Just like humans canine athletes have special nutritional needs. Time and stress take a toll on the body of the active dog and depletion of natural fluid levels may lead to fatigue lethargy and decreased performance. Athlete is a combination of herbs designed to balance the high energy athletic dog. This blend functions by maintaining the fluids of the body and allowing the dog to attain peak performance. Available at store.dogsnaturally.com it s good to be different subscribe now www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 63 marketplace animal communicators Long Distance Animal Communication I love bridging the communication gap between pets and their humans in all stages of life nationally. Thirty years experience helping animals heal with CinergE www.cindybrody.com (845) 679-3393 trainers Canine Affinity Where healthy dogs shop Northwest Indiana s premier natural pet store Schererville and Crown Point www.canineaffinity.com The Positive Puppy Dog Training LLC Idaho s only IAABC Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (208) 578-1565 www.positivepuppy.com holistic health care Amber Reiki Is your pet stressed in pain or sick Reiki can be an effective holistic accompaniment to any conventional treatment. In-person and distant sessions available. www.amberreiki.com naturallydogs.php Amber Shaner (630) 835-6727 Enlightened Animals LLC Ellen Kohn 566 Meadow Vista Drive Evergreen CO 80439 (303) 670-1023 horsegal52 aol.com www.EnlightenedAnimals.com Balance through Scent Essential oil Aroma Mist for dogs & their people. Relax Breathe Focus. www.thescentproject.com holistic pet supplies US My Pet Carnivore An exclusive line of frozen raw pet food. Just meat bones & organs from the best local sources. Shipping to the lower 48 and delivering monthly to MI OH KY IN IL MO KS IA and WI. (317) 694-4749 orders mypetcarnivore.com www.mypetcarnivore.com Dog Gone Dirt All Natural Dog and Horse Skin Care Products We use the best essential oils and organic herbs in our products. 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Chicken Breast Chicken Hearts Pork Tenderloin Turkey Breast Turkey Hearts California Pawsitive Karma A pet boutique and spaw 2821 Castro Valley Blvd Castro Valley CA 94546 (510) 886-4729 www.pawsitivekarma.com HOWLISTIC Healthy Happy Dogs & Cats San Diego s best source for holistic food and treats and Eco-friendly products www.howlistic.com Self Serve Pet Spa Bakersfield s natural and holistic pet food store and self serve pet wash 2816 Calloway Dr. Ste 103 Bakersfield CA 93312 (661) 588-7858 fordogsake.com We ship anywhere 773.278.4355 Made in the USA groomers Salon Fido LLC 1807 Main Street Cross Plains WI 53528 (608) 798-4464 www.salonfido.net 64 September - October 2013 Self Serve Pet Spa 7401 Whitelane 2 Bakersfield CA 93309 (661) 381-7699 www.selfservepetspa.com Ben s Bark Ave Bistro 701 Pleasant Grove Blvd Ste 120 Roseville CA 95678 (916) 797-DOGS(3647) www.bensbistro.com Cape Dog & Cat Providing the healthiest natural whole-foods for your Dogs and Cats (In the Marlin Plaza) 3100 Del Prado Blvd S Unit 309 Cape Coral FL 33904 (239) 542-9663 www.capedogandcat.com Three Amigos Pet Supply 4613 University Drive 238 Coral Springs FL 33065 (954) 326-1002 www.threeamigospetsupply.com Colorado Outdoor K9 We provide the highest quality products that help you and your family enjoy a healthy life through the outdoors. 685 Marketplace Plaza Steamboat Springs CO (970) 761-2278 www.outdoork9.com www.facebook.com OutdoorK9 Willow Run Feed 5700 West 120th Avenue Broomfield CO 80020 (303) 466 5971 www.willowrunfeed.com Willing Responsibility - Winning Results Georgia Fido s Market Better for your pet Better for the Planet 5354 McGinnis Ferry Road Suite 202 Alpharetta GA 30005 (678) 240-0440 www.fidosmarket.com Illinois Happy Dog Barkery Providing health and happiness for your dog 5118 Main St. Downers Grove IL 60515 www.happydogbarkery.com (630) 512-0822 Go Dog Go The Healthy Pet Place 100 Main Street Oswego IL 60543 (630) 551-DOGS (3647) www.go-dog-store.com Nature s Feed Natural pet food supplements grooming supplies and more 2440 Westward Dr Unit C Spring Grove IL 60081 (815) 675-2008 www.naturesfeed.net Connecticut Sweet Pea Natural Pet Foods 869 Sullivan Avenue South Windsor CT (860) 648-2005 www.sweetpeapets.com - Removes pet urine and odors permanently. 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Tampa FL www.groovycatsndogs.com FallRiver Labrador R etr ievers Naturally Reared Specialty Winners Family Members Dana Scott Ontario Canada www.fallriverlabs.com DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 65 Classified Ads Starting at 25 per issue Marketplace Ads starting at 75 per issue Book your ad now at sales dogsnaturallymagazine.com Maryland All For The Pet Join our rewards program and start saving money 551A Baltimore Annapolis Blvd Severna Park MD 21146 (410) 647-0339 www.allforthepetstore.com The Big Bad Woof Holistic & Eco-Friendly Pet Supplies for the Wild Animal in your Life (201) 291-2404 & (301) 403-8957 www.thebigbadwoof.com www.facebook.com bbwoof New Jersey Amy s Animals Holistic Canine and Feline Nutrition Center 205 RT 23 Wantage NJ 07461 amysanimals embarqmail.com www.amysanimals.net New York Whiskers Holistic Pet Products 235 East 9th New York NY 10003 (800) WHISKERS 1800whiskers.com Massachusetts Pets Gone Healthy Your Health Food Store For Pets 505 Boston Post Road West (Rt. 20) Marlborough MA 01752 (508) 485-3881 www.petsgonehealthy.com Brookline Grooming and Pet Supplies Specializing in Raw Diets and Nutrition 146-148 Harvard St Brookline MA (617) 738-6682 brooklinegrooming verizon.net The Healthy Animal 808 Washington Street (Rt. 53) Pembroke Massachusetts 02359 (781) 826-9760 www.thehealthyanimal.com North Carolina Unleashed The Dog and Cat Store 2460 Wycliff Rd Raleigh NC 27607 (919) 858-6460 www.unleashedmutt.com My Best Friend s Barkery High quality pet food raw diets treats supplements toys and more 176 Shawneehaw Ave Banner Elk NC 28604 (828) 898-5625 www.mybestfriendsbarkery.com WAGGIN TAILS VETERINARY SERVICES Ohio A Dog s Life of Chesterland LLC 12654 West Geauga Plaza Chesterland OH 44026 (440) 729-7722 Ronna Kabler DVM Holistic Care for Animals 508-875-8054 508-662-3236 ronnakabler msn.com Smokey Toes Joint Care Flavor Packets Michigan PetX Supplies and Tack 132 W Highland Rd Suite 101 Howell MI 48843 (517) 546-6740 www.mypetx.com Oregon Nature s Pet Market & Grooming 4555 Liberty Rd Salem OR 97302 503.362.4555 www.facebook.com NaturesPetSalemHealthy natural affordable pet supplies and grooming. 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Nutritional consulting. Solutions for allergies & immune support. Eco-friendly green pet gear. Charlottesville VA 434-296-7048 animalconnectionVA.com holistic pet supplies Canada Alberta Fetch Haus Specializing in products made in Canada & USA 3 4946 - 53 Avenue Red Deer Alberta T4N 5J9 (403) 346-9063 info fetchhaus.ca www.fetchhaus.ca Everything You Need For Your Pets Lori Rose Homeopathy Homeopathic Treatments for your Dogs Washington Cobber s Pet Pantry LLC 1415 Blake Street Enumclaw WA 98022 (360) 825-PETS(7387) Wellness unleashed Committed to providing all pet needs for optimal health and happiness. Grooming self-service wash and dog training available. Natural Pet Pantry 830 SW 152NE St. Burien WA 98166 (206) 248-1079 naturalpetpantry.com Naturally 4 Paws Silverdale WA (360) 337-2444 www.naturally4paws.com Best Friend Nutrition A health food store for pets Extensive variety of quality brands of raw options cooler & canned kibble treats food sourced supplements & supplies for dogs and cats. Sequim WA (360) 681-8458 www.bestfriendnutrition.com Bow Wow & Woofs Your 1 stop shop for raw foods healthy treats and so much more 8115 Birch Bay Square Street Ste 111 Blaine WA 98230 www.bowwowandwoofs.com www.facebook.com bowwowwoofs British Columbia Dogsense Boutique Specializing in health and behaviour 312 Broadway St Nakusp BC Dog daycare training & boarding Fully stocked store for all your feline & K9 needs (250) 265-0091 dogsense hotmail.com Homeopathic Consultations available at my clinic online and by telephone Homeopathic Treatments and Specialist formulas from my Online Store Natural Gentle and Effective treatment by a Professional Practitioner Manitoba It s Raining Cats & Dogs Winnipeg s natural pet supply store 620-B Academy Road Winnipeg Manitoba R3N 0E6 (204) 489-0120 www.itsrainingcatsanddogs.ca Follow us on Facebook Lori Rose RHom Lic BSH Homeopathic Medicine www.lorirosehomeopathy.com info lorirosehomeopathy.com Nova Scotia PAWS-itive Health Maureen Tate 51 Sarah Crescent Dartmouth Nova Scotia B2W4Z2 (902) 435-2528 divineaire gmail.com Ontario Rawsome Dogs Rawsome Dogs is dedicated exclusively to offering wholesome raw food diets. Woodstock Ontario (519) 421-9305 www.rawsomedogs.com rawsomedogs gmail.com Bones Pet Boutique Ontario s First Real Food for Pets Store 1500 Upper Middle Rd Suite 5 (North on Brant Left Upper Middle) Burlington ON L7P 3P5 (905) 336-7338 www.BonesPetBoutique.com Natural Raw Freeze Dried Canine and Feline Treats NO Preservatives Chemicals or FIllers Wisconsin bad dog frida Really cool things for good dogs and their people 2094 Atwood Ave.Madison WI 53704 (608) 442-6868 bark baddogfrida.com www.baddogfrida.com Manufactured and Processed in Wisconsin 920-684-3418 MomentumCN.com DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 67 Critter Jungle The Natural Place for Your Place 1405 Carling Ave Ottawa Ontario K1Z 7L6 (613) 729-7354 www.critterjungle.com Ottawa s source of raw and natural pet food and supplements All Creatures Great and Small All Natural Pet Care and Supplies since 2000 Grooming for dogs and cats Motivational based training for dogs puppies and their people Certified Chiropractic Care www.allcreatures.ca (905) 377-8619 Back To The Bone For raw feeders we provide a wide variety of ground proteins w bone meaty bones supplements and healthy treats. 495 Walkers Line Burlington ON L7P1N7 (289) 337-4577 www.backtothebone.ca Heronview Raw and Natural 7692 Ashburn Rd Whitby Ontario L1M1L5 Canada (905) 655-5747 leolvr sympatico.ca www.heronviewrawandnatural.com Quebec RawPaw Natural Foods Nous livrons We deliver Dorval Qu bec www.rawpaw.ca Bailey Blu Pet Boutique 6152 Sherbrooke St. W Montreal Quebec H4B 1L8 (514) 507-4526 www.baileyblu.com www.facebook.com baileyblu Saskatchewan Metro Pet Market 1637 Victoria Avenue Regina SK S4P 0P8 (306) 352-9663 www.metropetmarket.ca Yukon Territory The Neighborhood Pup 4230-D 4th Avenue Whitehorse Y1A 1K1 www.theneighborhoodpup.com Natural Animal Care Natural therapies & products for animals shop 2 8 Dallas Parade Keperra QLD 4054 07 3855 3555 www.naturalanimalcare.com Journey s End Ranch Animal Sanctuary Forever home for abused & abandoned animals Consults in holistic care nutrition detox Lyme www.jersanctuary.org pet supplies International Unique Pets www.uniquepets.mobi Based in Buckinghamshire Your pets are unique - so are we Specializing in Nutritional advice and great service. Supplying quality foods from Hamsters to Dogs rescues Reunion Rescue Home of the World s Friendliest Pit Bulls Dogs are raw fed and treated with homeopathy California and Texas www.reunionrescue.com breeders Faithful Guardian Caucasians Planned 2013 Spring Litter Puppies By Reservation Naturally Protective Naturally Raised Montana (406) 832-3285 faithfulguardiancaucasions gmail. com 68 September - October 2013 dog people Kris Christine The Rabies Challenge Fund We talked with Kris Christine Founder and Co-Trustee of the Rabies Challenge Fund. The goal of Fund is to extend the legally required interval for rabies boosters to five and then seven years by financing the rabies challenge studies by Dr Ronald Schultz at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. Please visit the Fund s website at www.rabieschallengefund.org and follow their Facebook page for regular updates and alerts. Tell us why you started the Rabies Challenge Fund. In 2003 my five year old Labrador Retriever Meadow was given a rabies booster. Maine had a strange law that required dogs to be vaccinated every two years with a three year vaccine (there is no two year vaccine licensed). He developed a malignant mast cell cancer at the site of the rabies shot. It was a huge tumor that looked like a volcano you could see the syringe hole in it. I failed my dog by not doing my homework. I d always just assumed that if the vets told me my dog needed something he needed it. I then found out about a French challenge study that demonstrated that dogs were immune to rabies five years after vaccination. I found that some states had annual vaccination requirements and that three and one year vaccines are the same in terms of efficacy and duration of immunity and in many cases identical except for the labeling. I decided I would do something about it. I started with my own state and got Maine s rabies law changed so that cats and dogs can be vaccinated with any vaccine licensed by the USDA. There is a four year vaccine for cats so they need only be vaccinated every four years. I also obtained a medical exemption clause. I realized that the only way states would extend their booster mandates to longer than three years would be if there were challenge studies done according to USDA licensing code Title 9 and that vaccine companies have no financial incentive to prove that vaccines last longer. I contacted Dr Jean Dodds and Dr Ronald Schultz who agreed to perform this work. We all pay our own expenses University of Wisconsin also waives their 48% overhead fee and except for IRS filing fees and principal insurance all the monies donated to the Fund go directly to funding the studies. What stage has the research reached We re at the five year mark and Dr Schultz has just completed the serological data correlating extensive rabies titer data with the RFFIT standard established by the WHO. One of the reasons there is no state that has a titer clause in its rabies laws is because the RFFIT standard was established for humans it s extremely important that we establish the world s first canine specific titer. Once we have that data and it s been peer reviewed state legislatures will feel confident enough in the scientific data to include a Kris with Meadow clause accepting a titer of a certain level in lieu of vaccination. For me that s the biggest part of this research. In the first vaccination group five years after vaccination fewer than 30% of dogs had serum rabies antibody titer levels considered positive on the RFFIT standard. However further testing of some of the dogs with low antibody indicated that most of the dogs vaccinated five years ago even without a positive RFFIT do have immunologic memory. The next step is to challenge some of those dogs with rabies virus to determine if the memory response demonstrated actually correlates with protection. In the past five years we ve also introduced many legislative changes. We ve obtained medical exemptions in many states (see our website for details) and in many others have amended the law to a three year standard. The most recent success was Pennsylvania where the General Assembly unanimously passed a medical exemption clause which takes effect on September 7th 2013. How do you go about changing the legislation First of all we have to make sure that the laws are based on science not on fear. People don t realize that rabies is a problem in wildlife not in domestic dogs. The primary source of transmission to humans is bats then skunks and raccoons. There hasn t been a case of transmission to a human from a domestic dog in the US. Redundantly vaccinating dogs or cats against rabies will not solve the rabies problem in the wildlife population. Part of our mission is to ensure that dogs and cats are only vaccinated as often as is necessary to maintain immunity against rabies. Secondly this is a real grass roots effort and we can t accomplish anything without the help of residents in each state. When people contact me asking for help in getting laws changed in their state I ask them to contact their legislators. As soon as they find one DogsNaturallyMagazine.com 69 willing to file a medical exemption clause on their behalf I can then come in with the technical information and the action alerts to get other people to contact their legislators. We must have people on the ground. No legislator will file a bill on behalf of a non resident. They re there to address their constituents concerns not mine Our studies are being conducted according to Title 9 vaccine licensing code because all the state laws are based on the rabies vaccine labels. That s where the science is currently based on the challenge studies done by the manufacturers to get their vaccines licensed. The optimum wording for rabies legislation is what we have in Maine where the requirement is for a vaccine licensed by the USDA . So if the USDA were to license a 10 year vaccine the law wouldn t have to change to accommodate it. Some states still specifically say every three years so if a longer vaccine were licensed the law would have to be changed. What is your most important source of donations Individual and small donors constitute the vast majority of our funds. This is a huge grass roots effort and the overwhelming majority comes from individual pet owners whether directly or through breed clubs agility groups and other organizations. We also receive donations from holistic vets the AHVMA and dog related businesses. But to me the most important donations are the individual ones. I can t tell you how many people contact me and say that they re on a very tight budget but that our work is so important that they will donate 5 a month. That is really from the heart and it means so much more than a donation from someone who can afford to give 25 000. What else can pet owners do to help the Fund The most important thing they can do is be active spread the word and raise awareness. There may not be any press coverage of the Fund s accomplishments so it s vital that people share information with their friends so that people know there is now a medical exemption clause for ill or pregnant animals in many states. They need to know to ask their vets some of whom may even be unaware this legislation has been passed. I ve never gotten over the fact that I failed Meadow by not being informed. It cost him his life. We can t do this without pet owners input to their legislators. We post information and action alerts on our Facebook page and it s absolutely vital that when we issue an action alert people call or write to their legislators. All 50 states now recognize a three year rabies vaccination and we were able to achieve that thanks to pet owners contacting their legislators. Nothing happens without public pressure and public interest so it s a vital part of our efforts and our success. Ever since I was a child I ve had loving dogs who d do anything in the world for me. They d give up their lives to protect me and they loved me wholeheartedly. They are humankind s greatest blessing and gift and they re a tonic for all the ills in the world. This is one small way I can pay them back for their amazing companionship. Missing an issue of DNM can be a drag Don t miss a single issue. Your mailing label tells the last issue in your subscription. LAST ISSUE JANUARY 2013 NANCY BURNS 16 SMITH RD UNIT 8 RALEIGH NC 27483 DOGS NATURALLY Renew online at www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com Or call 877.665.1290 70 September - October 2013 Supplement the Love with our core products for healthy growth & aging for dogs of all ages BioVITES Proactive Multi Supplement Vitamins minerals digestive enzymes antioxidants lignans and prebiotics to improve immune system energy digestion metabolism and general health. BioFATS Canine-complete Omegas with EPA & DHA A precise ratio of omega 3-6-9 fatty acids known to optimize nourish protect and support normal development and aging healthy skin lustrous coat and cardiovascular function. Our great tasting powders and oil are simply added to their food no pills fuss-free 1.888.379.3135 www.biologicVET.net Find the complete line at select Veterinarians pet supply and health food stores.